Antipodes
by AlcatrazisGod
Summary: Shortly after Hisao's release from the hospital, Lilly notices his behavior changing. When Hisao claims he has been enlightened to a mysterious set of nihilistic ideals, the very world around Lilly begins change just as he has. As Lilly's environment quickly transforms into an odd dreamscape.
1. Enigma

_Note: This chapter marks the beginning of my new story Antipodes. I will go ahead and give a warning now, if you plan on reading this story I strongly recommend not reading it when you are tired, or are for some other reason not able to think properly. The reason for this is because Antipodes is one of my surrealist stories, and has a very complex plot line. I actually thought it would be a bad idea to release it for something as simple as Katawa Shoujo, but in many ways this is a parody of that particular genre, even though this story is not funny in the least._

_Now, unlike the vast majority of my works, this one actually has a back story. I was wanting to write something in which the Antipodes Islands are the primary setting for a story. Antipodes was originally suppose to be for something completely different, but I randomly discovered this little game on YouTube one day. I then decided to write Antipodes for this game just to make fun of the visual novel genre. Keep in mind that this story is not humorous at all. The only reason it is technically a parody is because this story is directly contradictory to everything about Katawa Shoujo. Where that game was of a sickeningly joyful and happy atmosphere; Antipodes, much like the rest of my __stories is completely devoid of morality, and filled with nihilistic themes. Again, this story is not straight forward. There will be several chapters in which events are entirely out of place and the overarching plot line is more of a riddle and will not make itself apparent to the reader. So with all if that in mind, I present Antipodes. I look forward to reading your thoughts and theories as to what this story is actually about. Enjoy.;_

_Also, I have done a lot of research into the Antipodes Islands since I am oddly obsessed with them for whatever reason, but I will say, that the cave in this story is completely real. I actually made that part of the geography up, but when I was looking at a map of the islands it turns out that the cave is actually real. It obviously is not a labyrinth like I describe, but there is an actual cave on the Antipodes which is kind of creepy._

* * *

**Enigma**

There is an old subantarctic set of islands long forgotten by geographers, conquistadors, explorers, as well as the god that built them. These islands, or rather, these large oceanic rocks surrounding one main island lay just southeast of New Zealand. These different spots of land would soon be known worldwide as _the Antipodes_.

The islands, even though very cold and could not support human life, or at least not naturally; there was still a vast variety of flora to be found here. The Antipodes themselves were spawned out of the fires of underwater volcanoes and somehow, even in the middle of this frostbitten sea, life managed to find the land and claim it for itself.

As expected, the Antipodes just like any other island chain are overwhelmed and heavily populated by seabirds. Oddly enough, the Antipodes were unique in their bird population due to several indigenous species presently residing on the islands. The Antipodes snipe is one such bird. It would appear that a snipe is not an old rural myth after all.

Another unusual bird that lives on the islands would be the Antipodes parakeet which is known for having a carnivorous nature. There was even several penguin colonies across the islands; although it remains unclear how they were ever able to swim all the way out to the Antipodes. In fact, the penguin population was rather diverse in species as well.

A notable mammal that lives on the islands and one of the only mammals on the Antipodes would be seals. Or at least, fur seals were at one point largely populating the islands before they were ultimately hunted into oblivion. House mice also inhabit the islands for some odd reason.

Plant life on the Antipodes consist of ferns, tussock, megaherbs, and moss is also very common along the grounds of the islands. The tallest point on the Antipodes would be Mount Galloway. This mountain lies in the center-north area of the main island. This mountain stood high against all other peaks in the Antipodes area. Mount Waterhouse sits slightly southwest of Galloway and is only 5 meters shorter.

The other rocky areas of land that surrounded the main Antipodes Island all had their own notable names. The island that lied east of the mainland has been named Leeward. Leeward's counterparts, the Windward Islands are directly west of the mainland. Just north of the Windward Islands was another small rock called Orde Lees Islet. Two large islands lied to the north of the mainland. The first island is titled Ballons while the island north of Ballons is called Archway.

On this very day, Antipodes Island was just as lonely as it has always been, regardless of its smaller companions, nothing other than the birds and ice cold tides dared make a noise in this silent world. The large amount of pacific clouds above caused the sky to turn a light gray. This was the case everyday. The Antipodes rarely saw direct sunlight since it always seemed like a light rain was hovering just above this dark and forgotten place.

To the southern most part of this bleak island lied Reliance Ridge. This ridge was consistent of three mountains and shielded the rest of the island from South Bay. The same location where a ship called the Spirit of the Dawn wrecked. The Spirit of the Dawn was not the only ship to find a quick fate on the island. The President Felix Feliue wrecked on the island after the Spirit of the Dawn came on the scene.

The Spirit of the Dawn was a second attempt by the British Empire to settle the island and raise cattle. The same island which seemed to be the harbinger of death. Once again, this was an utter failure. After that the world seemed to give up on the old Antipodes and it was long forgotten. Of course, this did not mean the killing spree the Antipodes was on would be classified as over yet. In 1999 a yacht would travel through these long abandoned waters and meet the same fate as the two ships before it.

Now, the Antipodes Islands were alone. Alone with nobody to disturb them. Alone to go about their business of doing absolutely nothing other than allowing a place for birds to socialize with one another.

South Bay was just as rocky and steep as the rest of the mainland was. It had a healthy coating of grass which gave the cliff side a deep green color which did add to the scenery. While a light mist gathered at the top of the cliff, a lone figure was heading down towards the rocky shore. This figure was the only sentient inhabitant of the Antipodes.

The figure was actually nothing more than a walking skeleton. Indeed, a walking skeleton in an old black suit that looked to be straight out of the Victorian Era. This skeleton had no skin, hair, eyes, organs, or muscle present on his body. Oddly enough, this skeleton's name was Pacific. He has resided and haunted these islands for quite a lengthy period of time. Long enough to remember the Spirit of the Dawn, at least.

Pacific hummed to himself quietly. That was his favorite thing in the world, music. Pacific worshiped this form of art he was named after above all else. He absolutely adored the idea of creating it as well. This led the mysterious skeleton to become a composer of all things. He taught himself everything there was to know about composition, specifically on the subject of classical work.

This also led to Pacific locating an underwater cave which lied just beneath South Bay, and granted a large space in the island's interior. Pacific would only rarely come out of the cave as he spent most of his time composing new and interesting music. As a result, the skeleton would usually never emerge to the surface. When he did, he was only out to get some fresh air; even though he had no visible lungs, but would use this time to find inspiration for his hobby.

Pacific came to a sudden stop as he arrived to the shoreline which marked the end of the island and the beginning of the seemingly endless sea. Without so much as a word or even a final look to his surroundings, Pacific abruptly took a dive into the chilling waters which would have no trouble giving a normal human an intense case of hypothermia.

* * *

Far away from the Antipodes was an academy called Yamaku that resided on a much larger and far less hostile island known as Japan. Yamaku was an academy fit for students who were, ironically not very fit at all. Each and every student was a defect of humanity in some way, shape, or form. Most certainly not able to survive the extreme conditions in the Antipodes and almost none of them even had a remote clue that the islands even existed.

One of these defects goes by the odd little designation of Hisao Nakai. His defection lies in his heart which seems to quite literally have the desire to kill him. Regardless of this, Hisao remained as optimistic as he possible could, even though in some cases, his optimism might not exactly be such a decent thing to have.

Hisao sat in his depressing dorm room with nothing to do. Absolutely nothing on his mind and for once in his miserable life, his heart was not trying to murder him. Ironically, these were the moments he seemed to be most fond of due to the peace, quiet, and lack of heart attacks. It was bright outside although Hisao's blinds kept the light shut out for the most part. Hisao remained seated on his bed while his back leaned against the wall. He stayed perfectly still and did not utter a word. He simply stared at the front door as if it were about to do a trick such as open by itself or something along those lines.

* * *

While Hisao wasted his time away, an acquaintance of his was walking down the same hall his room lied on. In actuality, this young woman was far more than a simple acquaintance of Hisao's. Her name is Lilly Satou. Her defection, or imperfection resides solely within her eyes. She was completely and totally blind. It was as if the realm of visibility simply did not want to waste any time on introducing itself to her.

Lilly tapped a gray cane against the floor in front of her as she walked. She kept count of how many steps it took to go from point A to point B. In this case, Point A was the stairwell leading to this floor while point B was Hisao's room.

She tapped the cane once more on the ground, but suddenly came to a stop as he realized she just might have lost count. "Oh no," she thought to herself. "I might be a little lost... Where was his room again?"

She tried to jog her memory of what number she was on previously, but her mind was simply not working in her favor. She must have skipped a number or two on her way "_Ugh_," Lilly sighed and turned around. She aimed her cane in front of herself to keep from bumping in to any walls. She then stormed off back towards the entrance of the hall to start all over again.

She quickly made her way to the end of the hall, stopping as soon as she felt the tip of her cane hit the wall. Lilly turned around and began the process of tapping at the ground and moving forward. This time she was slightly more observant to the numbers she would count in her head.

Even though Lilly was being somewhat more cautious with her tapping, at about the 24th tap she lost count once again. Lilly came to a stop and placed her left hand on her forehead. "What number was I on? Surely I haven't miss counted twice in a row."

As Lilly continued to try and figure out what number she was on, two figures suddenly seemed to come out of nowhere and walk right past her. Of course, Lilly could not see them but this would prove to be a stroke of luck seeing as how the two figures were not actually people, but skeletons.

The two skeletons walked in a single file line. The man of bones that was leading the way was a regular skeleton with the average white marrow, while the skeleton behind him was completely red. Lilly turned in their direction because she could hear the sound of bones clicking and clacking away. Although, Lilly did not realize they were bones, she simply heard the clicking sound.

"Is someone there," she asked. Surely enough, the skeleton at the front of the line stopped and looked over his shoulder at her.

"What is it that you need," the skeleton inquired in a flat tone.

"I'm sorry to bother you," Lilly replied. "But I'm looking for someone. Would you by any chance know where Hisao Nakai's room is?"

The skeleton stood there blankly for a moment before walking off. "Directly to your left," the dead man called out before leaving completely. The red skeleton silently followed, not even making his presence known to Lilly.

The blonde haired girl turned to the left as previously instructed and stepped forward. She then raised her hand and knocked on the door. It would not be too long before Lilly heard the door opened and at last, even though she obviously did not realize it at the time, she had successfully located Hisao. Even if she did have to receive help from a lost soul.

"Oh," Hisao began, his voice signified that he was either tired or else quite bored with his day. "Lilly. I wasn't expecting to see you today." Ironically, Lilly and Hisao usually spent Saturdays together, but this would be the first time they have actually contacted each other since yesterday.

"Well, I was under the assumption you would meet me at the gates. We always go to the town on Fridays, do we not?"

It was about this point in time when Hisao's mind seemed to completely shut Lilly out. He almost immediately found whatever she was talking about to be utterly boring and irrelevant. He looked towards the wall on his right. While Lilly's voice faded to a background as insignificant as she was, Hisao tilted his head curiously as if the wall was preparing to preform a trick.

He did not take his eyes off of the spot of the wall which lied directly in front of him. His eyes remained glued to that one spot on the wall, soon a large shady figure crawled its way into his peripherals. Hisao did not pay attention to it, but as it crawled further down he could easily see that it was actually a giant cockroach. It was around a foot wide and about two feet long.

Hisao did not react. He did not appear to concerned with this horrid creature. It was not like there was any point in panicking over it. Soon after, the cockroach melted away from his vision just as Hisao heard Lilly's voice growing louder.

"Hisao," she nagged and opened one eye. Why on earth would she even do such a thing? Her eyes were useless. Opening them served no purpose other than to illustrate her emotions as lacking and hidden as they were. In actuality, Lilly so much as opening her eyes was beginning to feel like an unintentional farce to make fun of her own situation. It almost seemed as if she were making a mockery over the one thing she would never have.

"What," Hisao finally asked. Lilly lifted an eyebrow at him. She could easily tell he was either completely drained of energy for whatever reason or he was not paying attention to her. This was quite unlike him, he usually was very attentive to anything Lilly had to say.

"I was going to ask if you would like to accompany me to the town tonight," Lilly replied. "I have a few things I need to discuss with you. As you know, we'll be leaving this place next week. We need to address where we'll be staying afterward."

Lilly did have a point. This was a seriously pressing issue. Or at least to Lilly it was. Hisao on the other hand was surprisingly lacking in enthusiasm for the topic. He demonstrated this by not saying anything at all. He looked away, seeing no purpose in continuing the conversation regardless of its apparent importance. He turned back to face the wall. Hisao wondered if he would catch a glimpse of the cockroach which seemed to be capturing his interest far more than the young woman in front of him.

After a few seconds of waiting for an answer, when none came, Lilly grew visibly annoyed. She narrowed her useless eyes at him. He almost never acted this way. So indifferent to what she had to say. In fact, Lilly could not think of a time in which he was even remotely in a bad mood, or at least to the point that he did not mind demonstrating it for her in such an obvious, yet passive aggressive manner.

"Hisao," she stated with a slight groan in her tone of voice. "Are you feeling alright? You're acting rather strangely. Did you get enough sleep last night?"

"Maybe she hasn't figured it out yet," Hisao muttered quietly. He probably did not mean for Lilly to hear what he had said since he uttered it so softly, but Lilly's keen since of hearing was able to pick up what he had just said.

"I'm sorry," she questioned in confusion. "I haven't figured what out yet? What's wrong with you Hisao?"

Hisao turned and looked directly at Lilly with a blank expression. It was as if he had lost the ability to show emotion through his face. "I wasn't speaking to you, Lilly," he informed her in a slightly stern voice and turned away once again.

"There's nobody else here," Lilly retorted calmly. "Would you please say something? I'm growing concerned with you. You never act so... oddly. What's wrong? You seemed fine yesterday when you visited me. Why do you act so hopeless all of the sudden? You were fine when you left the hospital..."

"I'm fine Lilly," Hisao informed in an empty voice. "Go out and have fun. I'll be happy to stay here for the rest of the night. So, if you could leave, that would be most helpful. Thank you for stopping by though."

Lilly let out a defeated sigh. She would not allow herself to leave ow that Hisao was acting so uncharacteristically. She then propped her cane up against the side table where Hisao kept his medication. She the took a seat next to him, much to Hisao's annoyance. He shut his eyes and allowed his head to rest against the wall.

"Leave me be, Lilly," he requested. "I'll come join you in a moment. I'll meet you outside and we'll go to whatever place you had in mind.

Lilly still did not seem satisfied with him giving in to her initial request to come to town with her. She smiled lightly promptly laid down onto the set of pillows on his bed. "I'm in no hurry," she informed. "We shall go when you're ready."

* * *

A place called oblivion lurked just beyond Hisao's door. Lilly was too blind to see it. In the literal since just as much as she was metaphorically blind. Hisao did not want to leave his room for fear of subjecting himself to this oblivion. Just outside, somewhere outside was a black void. A void in which two skeletons casually spoke to one another. They were unlike the ones Lilly had passed by in the hallway. These two were both white rather than one being red. They both wore black suits although the one sitting on the right side of the table was wearing a red tie while the other wore a black tie.

The skeleton in the red tie called himself Rationalism, and it was always a blessing to have a chance and speak with his close friend Hatred who now sat across from him.

Hatred was a very fond of Rationalism as well. The two were often busy with their own endeavors, but they would always set aside times like this in order to speak with one another. In this case, they met in the same black void they usually met up in to discuss everything from the whether outside the void to ideology.

"I'm so glad I could speak with you," Hatred began as he tilted his skull to the left in a curious manner. "I understand you're beginning a new set of experiments. I know you have been trained by Science on how to preform these experiments, and I find myself intrigued. What is it that you plan to do now, Rationalism? How will you better the world with your new found knowledge?"

"Believe it or not, Hatred," Rationalism explained as he leaned forward, and took a sip of the wine in front of him. The wine only poured past his jawbone, and flooded the inside of his ribcage and suit. "But I have begun considerable research into disabled people. You know like retards and mute people. I hope to cure them of their illnesses. All I need now are the test subjects."

Hatred was astonished by what he was hearing. He always enjoyed aspiration among his colleagues. "Well now," he complemented in a surprise tone. "I'm impressed. I wish you the best of luck on your endeavors. Now, if you don't mind, I simply must inquire you about this whole process. How do you plan on going about curing these people?"

"I plan to start out small," Rationalism explained. "I'm still a novice when it comes to the art of medicine regardless of everything Science has taught me. She was a great mentor, but I don't trust myself around the dumb ones yet. Keep in mind that their disabilities reside in their heads. I don't believe I am skilled enough to be able to objectively analyze the human brain. However, that being said, I have recently studied both eyes and ears. I hope to begin my research by experimenting on the blind and deaf."

"And how are you going to begin these experiments," Hatred questioned with increasing interest.

"Well, I shall start with collecting different specimens. I need eyeballs and ears. From there I can inject different hormones into them and go forward after that. You see, I have a theory that these defects are caused by a lack of the hormonal chemicals in whatever part of the body is disabled."

Hatred suddenly leaned back in his seat awkwardly. He was quite shocked by that peculiar assumption Rationalism just made. "I'm sorry, but did you say you believe the five senses are curated by hormones?"

Rationalism nodded which left Hatred even more stumped on the topic. "I don't know if that is necessarily true," he informed. "Did Science tell you that?"

"No, this is my own theory," Rationalism elaborated. "And you may be right, I could be incorrect, but we'll just have to wait and see. All I need now is either a pair of human ears or some other defected organ that I can dissect and begin researching on.

"Really," Hatred inquired. "Well, I must say, I'm looking forward to what you find in your endeavors. I have no doubts that you will lead us to a better tomorrow. However, I do have to ask just where you plan on finding these organs for your experiments."

"As a matter of fact, yes," Rationalism nodded. "Do you remember our old friend Pacific? He lives on the Antipodes Islands."

"Ah, he's the one who use to put on those shows for us in that old cave," Hatred responded. "He use to create such beautiful music, but I do not remember him ever putting on plays for us though."

Rationalism leaned back in his seat to further relax himself. "No, he's working on his first right now. I spoke with him just yesterday on the nature of this sudden change of interest. As you say the man has always loved music, but he informed me that he wished to try something different. So, he invited us and several others to go and view this play when it's finished."

"And how does this play into your research on defective people," inquired Hatred

Rationalism did not say anything for a brief second as he tried to collect himself in order properly explain this to his long time comrade. "Pacific told me a few things about two of the cast members he has working on this place."

The skeleton then proceeded to elaborate on how this is related to the previous topic. A dark explanation, but a truthful one none of the less.

* * *

Lilly seemed to doze off in Hisao's room. She would realize this as soon as she woke up.

Lilly awoke from her short nap to not find her laying on Hisao's bed, but sitting at some sort of table. Or at least, to her it felt like a table. She tapped the wooden surface where she rested her arms. It was covered in a dining cloth. She then moved her dainty fingers around to feel an empty plate in front of her.

"Where am I," she questioned ever so quietly.

"What do you mean," Hisao questioned calmly.

While Lilly did not acknowledged it yet. She was actually sitting in a restaurant while Hisao sat across the table from her with an odd smile on his face. He was definitely not in his usual state of mind. At first he was acting depressed, now calm and serene. However, they were most certainly not the only souls sitting at this table.

There on the right side of the table sat a skeleton in an old Victorian Era suit. He sat there with a paper in his hand. His name was Pacific, and he had much to speak of with Hisao and Lilly present. Oddly enough, Hisao was completely unfazed by Pacific's presence.

Lilly was relieved to hear Hisao's voice. Even if it did not sound as it normally did. Lilly always had a good set of senses. Even if one of her senses was out of commission, she could still easily tell when Hisao was not acting normally. This would be the first time he has acted so erratically, and she could not figure out why.

"Please sign the paper," Hisao requested in a more flat tone.

This obviously struck Lilly with confusion. What paper was he speaking of?

"I'm sorry, but I might be a little lost," Lilly announced. She was able to collect herself enough to begin behaving more normally. She kept her reserve and calm demeanor regardless of the insanity around her. However, it was clear she was beginning to lose her relaxed attitude already. "Who is the other person here and what paper are you talking about? When did we arrive at this restaurant? Hisao, what's going on?"

Pacific rolled his metaphorical eyes and leaned back in his seat. Just as he did this, the waiter came by with a silver plate covered by a matching dish cover. Nothing was particularly off about the waiter other than the fact that he had no face of which to speak of. He was silent and wore a black suit.

The waiter placed the dish on the table and removed the cover, revealing a large pile of living maggots on the plate. Both Hisao and Pacific were unfazed by this. They were expecting such a dish since this is what Pacific ordered.

"Thank you my good sir," Pacific nodded and picked up a silver fork. He then plucked out a small group of maggots, stabbing them on the spears of the fork before promptly eating them. The waiter stood their until he was finished with his taste test.

"Ah," the skeleton began after he finished his first bite. "I'm sorry but this does not seem to have too much flavor in it. Could you add something to give it a little more spice? Perhaps a more metallic taste."

The waiter bowed with his hands to his side quietly just to indicate that he was prepared to obey the request. He then stood upright and with his left hand, he pulled a knife out of the pocket of his black vest. The waiter proceeded to hold his right hand out over the plate of maggots with his palm facing upwards. Without warning, the waiter then stabbed the knife straight into the palm of his hand. Blood erupted from where the blade protruded on the opposite side of his hand and tinkled down onto the maggots.

"Thank you once again," Pacific complemented. The waiter nodded. He bowed once more before walking off. Pacific then turned back to his meal and proceeded to stir up the blood and maggots together. Hisao only watched him. He did not want anything himself since he was not particularly hungry tonight.

Lilly kept to herself during this time. She spoke not on her surroundings. She then felt Pacific sliding the paper over to her. It floated to a stop just on top of her hands which remained on the table as if moving them from their current resting spot was a federal crime.

Lilly looked down at the paper. Pacific watched her do this and became irritated. "She clearly is not understanding the fact that she's blind," he said aloud in an audibly annoyed tone. This naturally caused Lilly to turn and face him. "There is no excuse for her to try and act as if it is important that she look at what she's holding. I wish she would stop making such a farce of her own defection. It makes me sick."

The blond woman did not know how to react to such an odd monologue which Pacific undoubtedly wanted her to hear. She simply took a deep breath before she attempted to try and refocus the topic.

"What is this," she questioned quietly and moved her left hand across the paper. Her dainty fingers would have detected the braille on the paper. That is, if there was even braille to begin with, but there was not. "I can't seem to read it."

"I didn't write it so you could read it," Pacific nagged. "I wrote it so you could sign it. You do know how to write your own name right?"

"Yes, I can write it in braille," Lilly nodded. "But I'm not signing anything unless I know what it says Mr..."

"Pacific," the skeleton replied. "My name is Pacific and your friend Hisao here has already signed the paper. We're waiting on your signature now."

Lilly turned to the place she last heard Hisao's voice. "Hisao. What does it say? Why do I have to sign this?"

"Sign the paper Lilly," Hisao ordered halfheartedly.

"Hisao," Lilly asked a tone signaling that she felt slightly betrayed even though she had no idea how Hisao was betraying her. The paper could not be too horrible of a document if Hisao signed it. It was not the paper she was worried about, but Hisao himself.

Out of nowhere, something flew at Lilly's direction and hit her in the chest. She flinched as soon as she felt the object hit her. It landed on her hand and she immediately recognized it to be a pen. She grabbed a hold of it before it rolled away. "Who threw that," she questioned but nobody gave her an answer.

"Sign the paper," Hisao repeated.

Lilly let out a long sigh of defeat. She was simply being put under far too much pressure. She most certainly did not like the way Hisao was acting, but perhaps she could find out why if she did sign the mysterious paper.

"Okay Hisao," she nodded. "I'll sign it for you."


	2. Layer

_Note: Ironically enough, the ending scene of this chapter actually inspired me to write an entirely different story about a group of people living in that city. Although, it will not be released for Katawa Shoujo. This will actually be my first and only story published for that game._

* * *

**Layer**

Lilly Satou was lying on Hisao's bed, or at least, Lilly assumed they were on his bed. In actually, she was lying on a field of grass. She looked straight up towards the gray skies with a light smile on her face while she used Hisao's lap as a pillow. Hisao sat upright perfectly and grinned at the scene in front of him.

The two were sitting quite close to the edge of a steep ledge which would mark the end of the land and the beginning of a large body of water. Lilly had no idea where they were and she still had not realized she was not in Hisao's room anymore. Hisao however, knew exactly where he and Lilly were at.

They were actually sitting on South Bay of the Antipodes. The large slope of land below lead straight towards the icy waters of the pacific. A rather rapid and wild breeze took control of the area. The wind alone made the air much colder than what it already was, namely, below freezing. The wind of course was still making the temperature even worse.

Hisao was wearing a thick coat and even a pair of thicker pants because he knew he was in a Subantarctic region. Lilly unfortunately, was still wearing her casual brown sweater and long green skirt, along with a classy pair of shoes. While her clothes were stylish, they were most certainly not suitable for subantarctic temperatures. It was with a cold blast of ocean wind that caused Lilly to finally flinch at the weather. She now knew they were not in Hisao's room.

"Where are we now," Lilly asked quietly. She had a feeling that would have been a pointless question to begin with. Hisao had not spoken since she signed that paper yesterday. The thought of him answering this question was probably a pipe dream, seeing as how he has not answered a single question of hers so far.

As soon as she opened her mouth, Hisao stood up. This caused Lilly's head to fall to the ground. Her head nearly did hit the ground had it not have been for her reflexes stopping her at last minute.

Hisao then looked down towards Lilly's cane lying to her right, just out of her reach. As Lilly came to and visibly appeared to scold Hisao for ruining her moment of relaxation, Hisao picked up the cane and threw it down the slope. It rolled downwards until it was abruptly stopped after landing between several jagged rocks at the shoreline.

Lilly sat up and looked around to see if she could find her cane. She felt around on the ground, not realizing what Hisao did. "Um, where is my cane," she questioned and began feeling around more frantically. The only thing that would allow her to navigate in this strange area seemed to have vanished into thin air.

Hisao simply watched her look around for it before he suddenly got bored with her and turned away. While on the ground, Lilly could hear Hisao walking off. She looked up in that direction and reached out. Her hand was only able to brush up against his pants before he left her range completely. He did not say a single word nor even try to assist Lilly in standing up as he would usually do when she needed assistance in someway or another.

Lilly then forced herself to stand up. It was a hard task to achieve since the 40 mile an hour wind was trying desperately to push her back to the ground. Lilly was beginning to shiver. She crossed her arms tightly as a final hope of warming her body but it was not working. She started walking straight forward with the aspiration to either trip over her cane which she was now very desperate to find, or to bump into Hisao whom she would like to regroup with.

Unfortunately for Lilly, what lied straight forward was not Hisao, but that steep slope which almost resembled a cliff face. South Bay was one of the few areas one could access the water without falling off of a cliff just to get to the ocean. Most of the coastline on this island was nothing more than a vertical yet jagged cliff. South Bay was not a cliff, but for someone who is not prepared for such an abrupt slant in the ground, the results would be the same.

Lilly took her first step forward and immediately panicked when she did not feel the ground after a certain amount of time. Without her cane there was no way of knowing where the ground was in relevance to her foot. There was also no way for her to catch her balance. As a result, Lilly fell straight forward.

She tumbled down for a few feet before she was finally able to press her feet to the ground below which caught her fall. Lilly let out sigh of relief. She was only halfway down the ledge and had she not have caught herself, she would have ended up falling into the freezing pacific.

Lilly turned herself around very cautiously and allowed herself to sit down on the steep hill. She then rested her arms on her knees and looked downwards. She could hear the sound of waves crashing against the shoreline below. This instantly indicated to her that she was near an ocean. The aquatic breeze was also a clever indicator as to where she was.

The blonde woman had no idea where she could be. Due to the amount of unreasonable wind and the oddly shaped bay that led to the sea, she had a feeling she was nowhere near her homeland. The geography and climate of this place was far different. It felt to be a world apart from the types of whether and even the beaches she had visited in Japan. There are no beaches here. There are no blissful breezes and warm suns. Here at the Antipodes, there was only a cloudy sky that muted the warmth of the sun, and the ice cold squalls that felt as if they should be accompanied by typhoons. And for the few minutes that Lilly had been here, she was already finding the cold to be unbearable. This greatly added to the misery now looming over her. If only she could _see_ what was happening, rather than waiting to feel the aftermath.

* * *

Deep in an underground portion of the Antipodes, Hisao walked through a dark tunnel. It was cold underground but not nearly as cold as it is up on the surface. At least there was no horrific wind rushing by down here.

There was one odd detail about Hisao's walking. Rather than properly strolling along across the flat ground of the cave, Hisao was quite literally walking sideways on the right hand wall of the cavern. Gravity was playing an odd role on him indeed.

He kept walking oh so silently. It was painfully quiet in the tunnels beyond. Hisao did not seem to care. He appeared to have stopped caring about his surroundings a long time ago. Either that, or he was enlightened to them in someway. Perhaps he was well aware of how ominous his new environment was, but did not care enough to pay attention. He was different from his blonde haired girlfriend in that respect. He seemed to like it here.

* * *

Lilly walked alone along the main land of the Antipodes Islands. She left South Bay without searching for her cane. She had no idea where she was now but she walking as carefully as she could. Even though she could not see her surroundings back at South Bay, she knew that if she were not lucky enough to break her fall, she would have landed in the ocean. By the sound of the waves, she could tell it was the ocean and Lilly obviously had no idea how to swim. That would not be a problem if she was at one of the beaches in Japan or any other habitable location.

Unfortunately, here at the Antipodes, she did not have the luxury of wading in the water seeing as how it was bitterly cold, and would almost immediate drop off right after the shore line. That was simply how the Antipodes were constructed. Once someone were to dive into the water, the only place they could stand up at was down in the bottom of the sea.

Lilly also knew she was not in Japan by now. These winds were too harsh even for a regular beach back in her homeland. She could feel them coming from all different directions. The winds were all headed the same way, but they were equally concentrated whichever way she was facing. She was definitely on an island however, it did not feel like a large one. The Antipodes were of relative size. In fact, compared to other deserted islands they were pretty large, but not large enough to allow someone to escape the bitter pacific winds.

However, one thing Lilly has taken note on, was that the land itself was most certainly not flat in anyway. Without counting the slope at South Bay, Lilly just recently crossed Reliance Ridge which was 326 meters at its highest peak. Fortunately, Lilly did not have to deal with such a steep hill since that peak was towards the southern most end of the island. South Bay lied adjacent to the mid point of Reliance Ridge which was relatively 316 meters tall.

Lilly was not keeping track of exact measurements since she would have no way of knowing what they are, but she was paying very close attention to the actual geography of the island. It was a very hilly place with several points of height altitude. She was currently traveling a steady pace down hill from the previous ridge. She was more cautious going down hill than she did when she was going up. At least if she was heading up hill she knew there would be no water ahead. Now, there was no telling if she was walking towards another portion of the island, or if she was merely headed straight for the ocean.

"_Hey_," a quiet voice whispered in Lilly's right ear. She came to a sudden stop, jumping slightly at the unexpected voice.

She quickly whipped around and extended her hand in front of herself to see if she could feel anything there. "Hisao," she asked after feeling around for a moment, but her hand only extended outwards into thin air. "Hisao, this Isn't funny," she stated firmly. "I'm becoming frightened. Where are you?"

As Lilly asked this question allowed, a sudden gust of wind blew past her. She could hear a faint whistling from within the abrupt wave of wind but nothing more. She dropped her head in disappointment and tensed up due to the coldness of the wind. "Hisao, where are you? Why did you just leave me here by myself? It's so cold in this place. Where am I, anyway? _Am I..._ am I dead?"

She considered this for a few moments. If she was in Hell, the it truly was a miserable place indeed. She only wished it was as warm as people said it was. Instead of being surrounded by burning lava, Lilly was trapped in the freezing cold of the Antipodes. It was about as close to Hell as she could get without actually dying.

* * *

In a solid white room, an entity sat writing a painting on a blank canvas that only matched the completely white room he was in. This entity had the head of a mule along with the feet of a goat. It had human hands that visibly extended outward from his body to operate the paintbrush. This male entity wore white robes around his body that matched both his canvas and his little room of art. This entity's name was Tela, and Tela was absolutely obsessed with paintings.

As Tela took the first brush to his canvas, he gently tapped a red dot towards the top right corner before he abruptly stopped what he was doing and lowered his paintbrush. Tela then turned around in his seat and looked in the opposite direction of his canvas. He stared out to the empty white room as if there was a large audience watching his work. This however, was not the case.

"Speak softly," he began in a firm tone. His words echoed out into the white void, bouncing off the walls before fading away into a realm of silence. "Know thy words from whence they are first conceived. Perception can be heeded in a multitude of ways, yet only rational minds can see their true meaning."

* * *

Lilly continued her walk across the lonely Antipodes. She knew not where she was headed. She really did not care where she was going, she only wanted to find Hisao at this point. She did not realize of course that he was long gone by now. He seemed to have lost complete interest in her. Or at least, he had lost interest in helping her. She was now on her own, fending for herself in extreme condition.

The poor lost girl continued forward into the unknown. She walked further down hill into an area consisting of tall grass which extended up just past her ankles. As Lilly continued her aimless wandering, she suddenly stepped into a small stream. Lilly only realized this until after she placed her right foot into the stream of rushing saltwater.

She felt the chilling water of the Ringdove Stream against her foot. She had little to no protection against it. Lilly was only wearing a pair of brown high heels to match the brown shirt and beige skirt. This would of course highlight how unprepared she truly was for the subantarctic temperatures. Unfortunately, the cold would become far more fierce for her right foot.

In an abrupt reaction, Lilly quickly threw herself backwards all in an attempt to get as far away from Ringdove Stream as possible. She landed in a sitting position on the ground. Lilly's hands began to shake as she felt the antarctic air combined with the stereotypical pacific winds to almost immediately attack her foot now that it was wet. This was probably the most dangerous situation anybody could be in when trapped on such an island. The insane winds would only assist the freezing waters to give Lilly a quick and rather brutal case of frostbite unless she is able to keep her foot warm until it dries off.

Of course at any rate, with the clothes Lilly was wearing, it would only be a matter of time her fingers and toes began falling off. They were already numb which was a relief to Lilly. Even though this was a bad sign, their numbness means there was one less part of her body where she was shivering as a result of the brutal winds.

It was only at this point when Lilly was desperately trying to wipe of the water from her foot that she realized the futility of her work. She could feel the cold air all around her. The thin clothes she wore did nothing to protect her from the insufferable environment. She suddenly came to the realization that there was no point to attempt survival in such a place. For one thing, she would never be successful at survival in a place such as the Antipodes Islands.

Her blindness prevented her from ever doing this. After all she did just walk straight into a freezing stream. Accidents such as this were unavoidable without eyesight. It was already established that she was completely ill equipped for such an experience. With the clothes she was wearing right now, she would be extremely lucky to survive a single night here. Even if she was able to find proper clothing that would protect her body from subzero temperatures, she still had that pesky blindness to worry about.

Lilly was intelligent and did not need sight to figure out what kind of place she was in. She had learned long ago that she was on an island in the subantarctic regions of the pacific ocean. These types of islands were usually rather small. This worked to Lilly's favor since she had originally planned to explore it and map the coastlines out in her head so she could avoid any unexpected 'swimming sessions.'

Lilly was also well aware of the fact that volcano formed islands did not technically have beaches, and if they did, they were usually very rocky and unpleasant beaches. This would mean she must stay as far inland as possible to avoid the risk of falling off one of the great cliffs that separates the actual islands from the ferocious sea.

The last thing on the list that was absolutely necessary for survival was food. How was she suppose to find food on a volcanic island which was probably closer to Antarctica than Asia? In actuality, she knew life had found away on this cold wasteland. She felt the soft and rather comforting grass at her feet and had heard mutton birds chattering in the skies and on the ground around her. However, the only question remaining was how is she suppose to catch, kill, cook, and eat them? There was absolutely no way to start a fire here, there were no trees present on the Antipodes which means no wood. There was also that huge problem of her being _blind_. How could she expect to even see the birds as they fly away from her?

When finally faced with the reality of her situation, Lilly knew she would never be able to survive here, or at least not by herself. In actuality, she could survive for perhaps a few days here if Hisao was with her. He would have to do basically everything, but at least she would live long enough to die slowly of frostbite after losing all of her limbs.

Lilly was tempted to just sit here and wait for her inevitable doom. It took her a few moments but after sometime she finally stood up. She quickly realized that she would not experience an easy death here on this frozen island.

"Hisao must be somewhere around here," she told herself. "I just have to find him. But why did he leave me out here alone to begin with?"

Lilly hesitated for awhile. She sat there staring at her doomed foot which was now painfully cold. "I understand now," Lilly murmured. "I'm going to die here. I'm going to freeze to death in the most horrible of ways. Before I do, I want to see Hisao again, just one last time. Maybe we could die together. I don't want to die alone."

With that dark soliloquy out of the way, Lilly stood herself upright once more. She realized she would not get anything done by sitting there waiting for the cold to kill her. If she was going to find Hisao then she might as well begin now. She could easily guess that there would only be a few spots Hisao could be hanging around at.

In a way, she would be correct. The fact remains that the Antipodes are still a very small group of islands. While Lilly still had no idea where she was, she felt it was safe to assume that she was on a small deserted island. Usually islands such as that can be explored in one to two hours on foot. Lilly only knew these statistics because she was bored one weekend and decided to read several random chapters of a geography book. That knowledge would definitely prove useful now. The nature of the volcanic island was rather violent even long after the volcanoes underwater have become dormant. With plenty of unexpected cliffs all over the place, it would be very easy for her to kill herself. This combined with the fact that there are several wet spots on the mainland, she would need to be a lot more careful than she already was.

With all of this in mind Lilly straightened out her skirt, and readied to begin her search for Hisao. She listened to the water for a few minutes. It was running smoothly by right next to her feet. She definitely did not want to make that same mistake of falling in again. This time she would listen to it and try to find out the stream's exact width.

This would go much faster for Lilly if she had her cane. She could easily use it to tap around until she felt the bank on the other side of this little stream. However, since she did not have such a useful tool, she would have to make due with what she had off hand, her four remaining senses. She listened to the stream to see if she could not figure out just how wide it was. Of course, this did not work. Lilly groaned in desperation as she became more annoyed with this problem than anything else.

She then decided the best thing to do would be to leap forward. The stream was right next to her and she knew it could not be too large. It most certainly did not sound the drop off to a river or ocean. It would also be unlikely that there was even a river present on a volcanic island. Lilly was quite honestly surprised that there was a stream here but then again, there are exactly three small streams in the mainland of the Antipodes.

Wasting no more time in this one spot, Lilly abruptly jumped to the best of her capability and luckily enough, she landed on the correct side of the banks. Indeed, instead of splashing into the stream as she feared, she was able to hit dry land. Now that this one obstacle was out of the way, Lilly could move on to worrying about more important things. She stood upright and began walking up the slightly steep but short hill away from the small body of water.

At this point, young Lilly has conquered Reliance Ridge and the Ringdove Stream. However, there was still plenty of obstacles to block her path along the way. The tall mountains at the center of the mainland were one such obstacle, but Lilly would not have to worry about those now seeing as how she was still a good distance south from them.

As she continued her walk further into the unknown, Lilly tossed around the idea of sitting down and taking a break. She desperately would love to sit down by now, but it simply could not happen. She knew if she were to sit down and rest now, she would have a hard time getting back up. That combined with the fact that she only had a limited amount of daylight to work with caused her to decided against it.

Lilly obviously had no use for daylight, she did not even know the difference in night and day other than basic temperatures and Hisao told her one was dark while the other was bright, but that was all she ever knew. The only reason she was actually concerned about the time of the day was all due to the temperatures. If she was caught outside in a place like this at night in the clothes she had on now, she would have nothing left to do but kiss the idea of ever hearing Hisao's voice again goodbye. There was absolutely know possible way she could survive the cold conditions at night. She was just barely getting by today. It was only due to her slight overexertion that she was able to ignore the cold at the moment, during the night, those temperatures would probably drop a good 10 to 20 degrees. Naturally, Lilly would prefer to be some place warm and cozy even though no such place existed on these inhospitable islands.

* * *

While Lilly was busy exploring the Antipodes with hopes of finding Hisao to share her final moments with him, the old skeleton Hatred was walking through an odd neighborhood. It was a strange place indeed. It looked to be an average little neighborhood in America during the 1950s. All of the houses had a more vintage look to them. White picket fences lined the perimeters of the houses. Sprinklers fired off streams of water in the air to keep small gardens alive and lawns a beautiful green.

Rows of mailboxes stood in between sidewalks and the houses themselves. There was however, one little detail about this place that was rather ominous. If it could be ignored, anyone who walked t through this same street would not see a single thing out of place. Yet the problem, the abnormality, and the very _disability_ of this place was strikingly obvious. The neighborhood, nay, the entire town was empty.

There was not a single soul in sight. The area was completely devoid of people. In fact, the only thing that closely resembled a population in this town was the randomly placed mannequins that were positioned throughout the neighborhood. Indeed, as far as the eye could see, mannequins were everywhere. They were set up and placed into certain positions that resembled them preforming the daily tasks one would see average humans doing. For instance, as Hatred walked down the road and passed one house by, he spotted one mannequin operating a lawnmower. However, due to the mannequin being nothing more than an inanimate object that exists on the wrong side of the uncanny valley, it did not move nor was it actually mowing the lawn.

The lawn across the street featured several small mannequins which presumably resembled little children could be seen playing in one of the sprinklers. Yet, just like the other mannequins, they obviously did not move. Instead, they were frozen there for eternity. One of them held out a ball while the other two waited to catch it. Unfortunately for the mannequins, the ball never came in their direction. The mannequins simply stood there like the statues they were. A dragonfly slowly landed on the face of the motionless mannequin with the ball. It then flew away having lost all interest in this neighborhood, it decided to move on to the next.

Hatred spectated all of this from a distance. As he walked down the lonely road, the skeleton could not help but shutter at the mere sight of this place. Just as his name would suggest, he absolutely despised coming here to this town. Then again, it was not really a town. This place was more commonly viewed as the world of the dead. It is believed by the skeletons that this place was once filled with people.

The skeleton named Hatred would be one of those intellectuals who has proudly adopted that belief as his own. However, he could not imagine why such a lively town would be turned into a graveyard for no other reason. Part of this theory which suggests that the town was once populated addresses the presence of mannequins. Hatred believes that the mannequins were once people, but for some reason or another, they died. They froze in the exact position they had last taken before this realm of existence died.

It would never be answered why these mannequins had stolen the town from its people, but nobody really cared enough to find the answer. In a way, this place was rather calming when one could look past the disturbing nature of it. Hatred was unfortunately one who could not look past what he could blatantly see.

With his hands shoved in his suit pockets, Hatred continued his silent and lonely walk through this world of the dead. The quiet atmosphere was only assisted by the ambient sounds of nature. Cicadas sang their soothing songs in the distance. An occasional frog could be heard croaking from afar. It would appear that all life in this plain of eternal rest was still alive. The only part that seemed to be either dead or resting its eternal sleep would be humanity. The only indication of their previous existence in this mysterious realm was the single tone that now surrounded Hatred. The only revenants of humanity would be the mannequins which now take their place.

The sun was now beginning to set on the town. Hatred wanted to leave before night finally came along to claim the city for itself. It would of course always be beaten back by the sun, but until that time came, night would rule. Nothing particularly special happened during the night or day. It was still a ghost town no matter what time it was. No matter how dark or bright it is outside, the motionless nature of this place was always the same.

The only reason Hatred did not want to be here at night was due to the fact that it simply gave him the chills to be here in the first place. The town already did not sit well with him during the day, he most certainly would not enjoy it during the nighttime intervals. Hatred soon came to a stop in the middle of the road. One mannequin to his right was checking the mail, but for whatever reason, its head and shoulders were turned to face Hatred.

"I believe I understand now," Hatred explained to his invisible audience. He suddenly dropped to his knees and looked towards to the heavens above. "I understand what enlightenment Nihilism and Rationalism have reached. It only took me a few trips to this so called _world of the dead_ to understand. I realize that there truly is no meaning to life nor the individuals who live it. Existentialism is even a lie when it is compared to the ideals that Nihilism and Rationalism bring to me for critical analysis. The reason a place like this exists is because there is no reason at all. It is beautiful in an abstract sense because there truly is no meaning. There is absolutely nothing sacred, nothing to cherish. These materialistic ideals are allusions humanity creates because they themselves do not want to face the reality of their world. There is no good, and there is no evil. These are both value words. But how can value words be objective, when there is no such thing as value?"


	3. Inhumane

**Inhumane**

In what appeared to be a closed off kitchen somewhere in an odd void, there stood a figure behind a counter. This figure had the body of a man, but the head of a domestic pig. Another notable feature about this creature was that it also had the hoofed feet of a pig as well. This man pig wore a butcher's apron which had a few splatters of dried blood on it. In the left hand of this monstrosity was a huge cleaver. This cleaver was also covered in blood for whatever dark explanation there may be.

The horrid pig suddenly threw the disgusting cleaver into an already messy kitchen which was filled with cheap, unsellable organs. These organs consisted of entrails, livers, hearts, and one sheep's head that was wedged in the bottom of the sink underneath all of the other unattractive organs. The butcher had plans to see all of these decaying organs and more to a group of wonderfully twisted individuals who would 'have use for them.' But for now, it was time that the butcher spend time eating a fine supper with his little family of pig people.

The butcher then turned around and walked towards a closed door in the background. He opened the door and walked out into an odd dining room. As soon as this creature stepped into the dining room, his body adopted a black and white tint which matched the black and white room. It was almost like watching a movie from the early 20th century. There at the center of the room was a large dinner table. Sitting at this table was what appeared to be a female pig-like human. She had the regular head of a pig, but wore the attire one would expect an average housewife to wear. Sitting across the table from her was two smaller pig men. The first sat to the right and was dressed as if he was a little boy while the monster on the left was dressed as though she was a little girl.

The most upsetting aspect about this scene was not the demented family in question, but rather what lied on the table which appeared to be the actual meal. There at the center of the table was a fully roasted pig. Indeed, this family of pigs appeared to have a taste for pork. The roasted pig was prepared in a very stereotypical way even with a large red apple shoved in its mouth. There was a blanket of lettuce underneath the roasted pig as well as other side dishes.

The butcher calmly walked over to the table and sat down at the head of the table. Twenty long minutes would pass of each family member staring at each other before the butcher finally did something. He grabbed a nearby fork and aimed it at the roasted pig's left eyeball. He then swiftly stabbed the eyeball. The butcher pulled the eye out slowly while it remained impaled on the four spears of the fork. From there, the butcher ate the eye of his own kind. The cannibalistic meal could now commence.

* * *

Lilly walked alone through the Antipodes as usual. She ended up following Ringdove stream to see if she could not locate the shoreline of the island she was on. The only thing Lilly was worried about now was whether or not she went in the right direction. She decided to head east since the wind started blowing from that direction. She figured that it would be much easier if she simply followed the wind. While it would most certainly not lead her in the right direction all the time, she did not want to waste an unnecessary amount of energy fighting with it.

This seemed to work efficiently so far. She would otherwise have not the slightest idea as to where she should begin. Lilly assumed it would be a good idea to start by raping out the edges of the island in her mind to gain a rough visual of what it looks like and how large it is. She counted the steps she took which appeared to be a method of her substituting whatever she had for her cane.

It would only be a little bit longer before Lilly suddenly heard the sound of waves crashing against a rocky shore. She kept walking while she listened to the rather violent current smashing all of its weight against the shore. She suddenly walked a little too far, and as she took one more step forward, Lilly opened her eyes fearfully as she did not feel solid ground underneath her foot. She quickly moved back to a safe place where she knew the ground was solid. While Lilly did not realize it, she had reached Ringdove Bay.

Ringdove Bay was nothing more than a huge cliff face. It was the perfect place for Lilly to kill herself at if she was not paying attention. She of course, almost did this when she felt the edge of the cliff. The wind from the ocean had picked up considerable, but that was because she was no longer far inland. She only just now realized how less extreme the wind was a little while ago. It was still unbearable, but it was not as bad as what she is experiencing now.

"So this is the where the ocean is," Lilly told herself. "I wonder how far I am from that place I woke up in. I must have been walking for quite some time. Surely I have come a little ways if any." Lilly would be right in that assumption. She has not even made it to the midpoint of the mainland, but she has come a good distance.

"_Hey you_," a voice suddenly questioned from behind. From what Lilly could tell, the voice belonged to a male, but it was most certainly not who she was looking for. She could not recognize this voice even if she tried. Lilly turned around to give whoever was speaking, her undivided attention.

"Who's there," Lilly questioned.

There was indeed a figure standing in front of her. That figure was a skeleton in a black suit and red tie. What was more surprising, even if Lilly could not see it, he held a metal cane in his right hand. "My name is Rationalism," the skeleton announced. "I assume your name is Lilly Satou. Hisao described you as a pretty blonde girl, and your the only blonde woman I've seen all day. Are you still lost or have you finally found the way?"

Lilly was flattered by Hisao's complementary description of her. She was also pleased to hear someone else use his name. That would mean he is still alive, but Lilly did not so much as think Hisao was dead in the first place since she last some him earlier today. However, Lilly would worry about Hisao as soon as she got some more critical information. This person calling himself Rationalism definitely sounded as if he had such information. Another odd detail about Lilly's behavior was that she did not seem too fazed by the odd name this person had. Then again, she would obviously not be worried about such trivial details.

"Mr. Rationalism," Lilly asked in her usual gentle and soothing tone. "Could you please tell me where I am? Also, I need to know where Hisao is."

"Oh, you poor thing," Rationalism said with a sympathetic voice. "Do you mean he left you out here all by yourself?"

"I'm afraid so," Lilly sighed and adopted a more annoyed expression. She then looked to the ground. Rationalism could tell by looking at her glazed blue eyes that she would definitely have a few words with Hisao about the situation.

"Don't blame your little boyfriend," Rationalism said in a more serious tone of voice. "I had a feeling something of this nature would happen. You see, Hisao has been listening to one of my colleagues. His name is Pacific. The man means well, he supports my newly founded ideology, but unfortunately, Pacific is far too radical in his thoughts. He believes that only those destined to understand my words will make themselves known. Pacific constantly preaches that anyone who does not heed my ideals is not strong enough to comprehend them, and perhaps he is correct but I do not agree with his more rigorous methods of conveying the message."

Lilly was completely lost by this explanation. She had no idea what the crazy skeleton was talking about. It was as if she was speaking with an Alzheimer's patient who would randomly ramble off into space after being asked simple questions.

"I'm sorry," Lilly replied. "I know who Pacific is. He had me sigh some odd contract. Hisao also pressured me into doing it, but I don't understand what that has to do with my questions. You're slightly confusing me."

"Oh my," Rationalism stated, catching himself as he just remembered something. "I assume you don't even know what I'm referring to. You see, I have recently announced a new set of ideals both philosophical and political. Pacific was one of the many so far to have jumped on them and acknowledged their brilliant truth. However, as I previously said, Pacific is more radical than I. Your friend Hisao met Pacific before he met me. I know for a fact that he has been listening to everything Pacific says. Now, the last time I spoke to Pacific directly, he mentioned a play he was wanting to put on. He decided at last minute to convey my ideals as the main message of his theatrical act and naturally I did not oppose. He kept speaking about your little Hisao. Pacific spoke very highly of the lad. I ended up meeting with Hisao a few days ago, he told me that he was not going to help you one bit. He said that if you were intelligent enough to comprehend our ideals, you would find and locate him on your own. In other words my dear, your friend Hisao has been enlightened and is waiting for you to reach the same enlightenment."

Lilly looked to her feet, trying to take all of this in. "I still don't understand. Where am I? Can you please tell me that? Tell me where Hisao is. Tell me how to go home!"

"I cannot," Rationalism sighed. "I would like to help you and show you the answers, but you won't reach enlightenment that way. Pacific and Hisao have you running about this place because they want you to find them on your own. Either that, or you'll die of exposure. Hisao has informed me that regardless of the cost, he does not wish to lend a helping hand to you. However, I can help you in some ways. I will tell you know that you are currently located on the Antipodes Islands which are south of New Zealand. We are in a subantarctic region as well. I can also give you this."

Rationalism then lifted his right arm in the air and tossed Lilly's cane towards her. It landed at her feet just as he had desired since he knew playing catch with a blind woman was not the most productive thing he could be doing with his time. Lilly looked down as she felt something land at her feet. When she reached down and grabbed a hold of this object, a hopeful smile immediately broke out on her face. The first smile she has produced since she arrived to this crazy place.

She picked up the cane and aimed it at the ground where it was suppose to be. However, she was still disturbed by the thought of being so far from home. "New Zealand," she thought slowly in her subconscious. "How?" She asked this aloud but she received no answer. Rationalism had already walked away a little while ago.

Lilly soon realized that Rationalism left her alone. She felt her knees weaken and she collapsed to the ground. She had given up all meaningless hope a long time ago, but she was only now feeling the sting of the situation. Hisao appeared to have completely left her for dead, and she could not figure out why he of all people would do such a thing. Again, she simply was not enlightened to the true ideologies at hand.

Her hands began to shake and she looked to the sky. It was unclear why she even desired to look at the sky when there was no way for her to see it, but none of the less, she did so. "Can anyone help me," she asked quietly. She looked to the clouds as if there was actually a god in the heavens. Lilly only did this to fool herself. To provide her false comfort because neither the vicious Antipodes islands nor even her beloved Hisao would do it for her.

* * *

While Lilly was busy pondering these rather oppressing questions, Hisao was sitting in that dark cave with nothing to do, and no emotion visible on his face. He was currently sitting in a large open area that looked to be an underground theater of some sorts. There was a number of chairs lined up in rows that faced an empty stage with a single spotlight shining down on it. The two red curtains were drawn back revealing nothing at all was happening on the stage.

There was nobody else in this part of the cave except for Hisao and one familiar skeleton who was walking up to him. That skeleton was Pacific. He carried with him, a hard copy of Rationalism's new manifesto. Hisao looked up to Pacific and lightly bowed his head but did not stand up. He only stood there, and watched as Pacific headed over to the seat in front of him and sat down. Pacific then turned and looked to Hisao.

"And how might you be doing on this fine winter day," Pacific asked. While the phrase itself was quite a friendly question, Pacific was not using a very friendly tone. He spoke flatly and in a detached manner. Pacific simply placed himself above peons like Hisao who followed him in the most zealous ways possible. Pacific only wanted fanatics to follow him. He did not have time for worthless individuals who are completely careless towards his ideals. This is of course an ironic scenario when one is actually able to understand those ideals.

"I feel lucky that you took me under your wing," Hisao said in a formal manner which was very out of character for him. "I was surprised that Lilly didn't realize what happened a few weeks ago. I woke up in that parking lot, and immediately remembered what happened. I'm just worried that Lilly will never figure that out. If she can't remember what happened then how will she understand our ideals. She will probably die up there on the surface without ever knowing the truth."

"Why should you care," Pacific questioned halfheartedly. He spoke in that same flat tone and looked down to his manifesto. "If she is too ignorant to see what Rationalism has discovered, and what I have expanded upon then she does not deserve to live here with you, and she most certainly does not deserve to survive the Antipodes. You mark my words, Hisao. If she remains ignorant to our ideals, those Antipodes will kill her faster than you can say her name. And that's a fact."

* * *

Meanwhile, in that old town of mannequins that Hatred had visited earlier, there was a quaint modest home in the middle of the primary neighborhood. This living room had a small family of mannequins sitting throughout the area. This family of soulless wooden dolls were huddled around a single radio.

This radio was a very old one as well. It had volume and frequency changing nobs along with having a wooden casing constructed around it. This radio was currently plugged in and producing a creepy sound of water dropping from a sink faucet. It would never be known why this is or why this family was listening to such, but it really did not matter in this world.

The mannequins did not move. They did not make a sound. There was a large amount of termites eating away at one of them but they did not care. They were completely inanimate after all. They were dead, and there lives were just as meaningless now as they were when they were living, breathing people. However, one cannot help but wonder if this is some form of purgatory or even hell for the pour souls that have been reduced to still frames that resemble past lives. Is it not possible that they are still existing on a conscious level inside those wooden bodies. Bodies which they cannot move nor use to feel? Do they exist now only to think in pitch darkness? Or do they simply not exist at all? One could only ponder on which one of these cases would be the most torturous.

* * *

In a lonely white space in front of a white canvas and sitting on a stool was the entity named Tela. The same entity with the head of a mule, arms of a man, and legs of a goat along with a body hidden behind white robes. He suddenly realized he had an audience and turned around. He stood up off the stool in the process and placed his art utensils on his seat.

"Hello class," he announced to his none existent audience. An audience almost as mythical as he himself. "We previously covered our introduction. Today however, I will be discussing the concept of reality existing in the realms of subjective and objective thought patterns."

Tela cleared his mule-esque throat before continuing. "To begin," he said as he held his right index finger in the air. "Objectivity relies on the concept of tangible reality. Naturally, anyone who thinks on a rational level, and utilizes good deduction skills can grasp the fact that reality is always constant. Modern day philosophers or as Pacific calls them, 'pseudo-intellectuals;' are known for claiming that reality is not constant. They believe wholeheartedly that reality is only perceived by the mind. In essence, the canvas behind me," Tela stated and pointed to the canvas which lied off in the background.

"A modern philosopher will claim that it is not technically real and that my mind is only perceiving it to be there when it actually is not. However, this is sheer ignorance at its finest. If these accusations were true, what I see as a blank canvas is most certainly not what another man would see when he looks this way. Each brain on planet earth contemplates topics differently. That is why it is called subjectivity. Therefore, if modern philosophy was correct, what I see as a canvas would be misrepresented by millions of other people. For instance, I could invite a good friend over for tea, I invite him to look in my room and he sees an elephant instead of a canvas. So, when modern philosophy attempts to claim reality as being subjective and imaginative, think logically and realize that this simply is not the case."

Tela took a brief moment to halt his lesson and catch his breath before continuing. "Now, to the second half of this lecture which is to prove my thesis on physical reality and its perception by all animals of the world. When anyone looks at my set they will see it is a white room with a matching white canvas in it. This would mean that reality exists not on a subjective level, but an entirely objective one. That is why it is called reality in the first place, it is purely subjective."

The mule headed individual continued on with his lecture to an empty void. While no one was present to hear his words and know his voice, he did not care. In reality, Tela understood that he would be appealing to a small niche of people who already agree with him, or people who are on their way to sharing these ideals.

"Reality is merely what is perceived on a universal scale. It is the concept of seeing and knowing what is there or what is not. The first generations that were exposed to the epic poem _Beowulf_ read the same story that we read today. Reality is not malleable and nobody's reality is different in anyway. Of course, there are insane souls who have lost the way of objectivity, but technically speaking, is insanity not also subjectivity? If an individual is insane, are they not visualizing the world to their own sick preferences?"

To his fictitious audience, Tela would either be making sense or not, just like a normal audience. He had the scoundrels who remain lost in their own ignorance, and relish in egotistical values so much so that they will dismiss a divine message that stares them in the face all because it might not be as moral or happy-go-lucky as their personal delusions may desire. However, for every hundred members of an ignorant mass will be a single intellectual who knows. A single mind that is capable of thinking different; and in so doing, evolving beyond the herd of brainless lesser humans, and understand what type of message Tela is trying to convey. It was the same message that Rationalism is trying to preach, and the same that Pacific approaches with extreme visions for how to edit Rationalism's inspiring philosophy of a new age.

* * *

Lilly suddenly found herself in an odd environment. She was no longer walking around on the freezing cold Antipodes islands, but some place completely different. She did not know what this place was at first. She could feel it to be very warm which was stark in contrast to the bitter Antipodes. There was a breeze oh so gentle, but every time it hit Lilly's skin, she flinched for fear that she was about to feel an arctic blast. Eventually she got over that nervous and irrational fear of the calming breeze. It still sent shivers down her spine though. After all, she had been walking through such a horrifically cold environment. Now, anything that had even a small lack of heat was uncomfortable for her, but at least she could feel a warm sun glaring down at her as it remained stagnant in the star filled heavens above.

The blonde woman suddenly felt the brushing of tall wheat plants against her legs. She then gained the odd curiosity about this place. The wheat definitely made it somewhat familiar to her, but she simply could not place where she was. Lilly thought of all the possibilities for a brief few seconds before she actually began exploring. "Hmm," she pondered. "Am I at that old holiday home I took Hisao and Hanako to? That's the only place I recognize with a wheat field nearby." She grasped her cane tightly and aimed it in front of herself to see if anything was obstructing her path beyond the point she was currently standing at.

It was both fortunate and even slightly unfortunate for Lilly to see that there was no obstacle in her way. However, she wished she felt a wall to her vacation home so she could actually figure out what direction it was at. With nothing interesting in that direction, Lilly turned to the right and held her cane out once more, but just like the last time, nothing was there. She twirled completely around with her cane outstretched, yet she felt it hit against nothing but clear, unresistant air molecules that were flying around her.

Lilly then lowered her cane and thought of something more efficient she could try. "Let's see," she said aloud. "If the house isn't near me then it could technically be anywhere at all. There is a moderately slim chance I'll actually travel the right direction too. That, and this wheat field is huge. I could be anywhere. There is also a slim chance that I actually am near that old place." Lilly then shut her eyes to relax herself. She took a prideful and almost smug posture as she figured out a new plan that would assist her in finding her way.

"Now, I just have to find out which direction is which. At least then I will know where I need to walk to," she thought. "The house is located to the western edge of this field. It should still be morning even if it is probably 10 to 11 by now. I just need to figure out where the sun is in the sky. It always rises in the east and sets in the west. That information would also tell me where north and south are."

Obviously, Lilly had no way of actually seeing where the sun was in the sky, but she was still a very clever girl. She had her ways of learning where certain things are that people would normally have to use eyesight just to find them. She looked up to the blue sky above with her eyes closed in that peaceful way she always kept them shut. Lilly aloud the sun to heat up her face however, there was a serious problem and Lilly opened her right eye as she noticed it. The sun was warming her face from directly above her. It was not the morning anymore. It was high noon. Lilly returned her attention to the ground, looking down in defeat. It almost felt insulting for her to gain such a vast piece of hope, only to have the time of day rip it to shreds.

"You're wasting your time girl," an odd, almost disturbed voice sounded off from behind. Lilly turned instinctively to face whoever, or whatever was speaking with her. She could not catch their scent seeing as how this person must not have had one. She could not tell the gender that this voice came from right off the bat. What she heard so far came from a raspy and high pitched tone of voice. It was hard to pinpoint if the person speaking to her was of feminine origin or masculine, but it would not take too terrible long before she could safely assume the gender.

"If you want to know where you are," the voice continued. This time it was much more clear even though it otherwise sounded exactly the same as the previous phrase she heard. "Then why don't you just ask me," the voice questioned. "I'll tell you where you are for free. Now that's a deal is it not? All you have to do in return is ask nicely. Then I'll tell you where you are. If not, then continue to wander around aimlessly tell you collapse from exhaustion in a few hours."

"Who are you," Lilly asked, this question being the first thing that cropped itself into her little mind. She asked this in a distressed and extremely stressful tone. She was clearly not having fun and all of these new people she was meeting which were either not helping her at all or helping somewhat and teasing her along the way were beginning to get to her on a more subconscious level.

"Hey, that's not the question I agreed to answer," the mystery man replied. She could tell from the sound of his voice that he was probably mocking her covertly but she could care less at this point. "Tell you what, since I'm so damn generous today," the man continued. "If you be more polite and stop being so hasty, I might just give you my name after the fact. Would that be okay with you Lilly Satou?"

Lilly obviously had no clue how he knew her name but he did, and she was not too interested in finding that particular detail out since it was a little less important than the others. "Alright, can you please tell me where I am? And if you don't mind me asking, could you tell me your name and where I can find Hisao?" She was about to cut herself off and let him answer, yet she quickly realized that her second question was missing the magic word. "Pretty please," she asked with a barely audible sigh of annoyance.

"Aw, was that so hard," the man questioned teasingly. "Alright, I'll tell you since you're being so pleasant I simply couldn't say no. Anyway Satou, you are everywhere and nowhere. You are actually caught in between two places that are as fictional as opinion claims they are. At the moment, you are looking into one of these two locations. This area specifically resembles the place you and Hisao had a... talk. This talk was followed by you being a filthy whore." The man then caught himself before he went too far in his elaboration. "Oh, I'm sorry. Was that too harsh?"

Lilly adopted a visibly angered and offended expression to this. "I can understand claiming that some of those events were not very classy, but I assure you I am no whore." Lilly stopped herself. She knew she would have to be polite if she wanted to gain any answers but this did not mean that the man wanting her to mind her manners did not have to be polite to her in return. "Regardless," she stated, completely reversing the subject back to a more important matter. "I thank you for telling me that. Now, do you mind telling me your name and how I got here all the way from the Antipodes? Can you also tell me how to find Hisao?"

"I can't tell you where Hisao is but I'll give you a hint. He's staying somewhere on the Antipodes."

"Then how do I get back to the Antipodes," Lilly pleaded, clearly only desiring to find her dear Hisao at this point.

"Just turn around," the man replied flatly.

Lilly was going to say something else but she simply stopped herself. Without wasting any time, she twirled around and almost instantly felt a familiar blast from subantarctic winds and the sound of waves crash against the rocky shores of the Antipodes. Lilly flinched at the incredibly powerful and completely unexpected gust of wind. It was almost as if the Antipodes had been saving this squall as a welcome back present for its new blind friend.

"Oh and by the way," the man said from behind. Lilly could tell his voice was fading in the distance. He must have been walking away but she did not care. She did not so much as turn around but she did listen to what he had to say since any information would be useful to her in some way or another.

"My name is Ableism."


	4. Sunkissed

**Sunkissed**

Lilly sat on the edge of a cliff face which marked that she was now on a ridge in between Ringdove Bay, which was now south of her, and Alert Bay which was to the north. That was the location Lilly was headed to next. Even though it was impossible for her to see it, Lilly was currently facing a smaller island which lied out in the water before her. Her lifeless eyes rested upon this island. That large rock in the middle of the sea was called Leeward Island. Again, she had no way of knowing it was there, but for some reason she could not take her eyes away from that direction even for a second.

Besides her utter need to take a break from all this walking, Lilly only stopped here because she could already feel nighttime creeping in on her. She clearly has neglected to manage her time properly. If she had not been distracted for most of the day and kept to her journey, she could have very easily circled the entire shoreline of the Antipodes and returned to her original spot on South Bay. Unfortunately for her, she would not have the luxury to continue her journey. In reality, it would not be that much of a difference for Lilly if she was to continue searching for Hisao at night. She already could see nothing, it would not be unreasonable for her to search at night as well. The only problem was that Lilly was growing tired. She figured she could find a place to sleep for the night, that is, if she could actually find enough comfort in these miserable conditions to actually catch even so much as a wink of sleep.

Lilly wished she could have located a pleasant area she could use as shelter such as a hill to block the wind or even some small boulders, but she had failed to find any such sanctuary. She knew she could reach a haven safe from the oppressive winds on the other side of the island. She had already discovered Mt. Waterhouse and Mt. Galloway towards the center of the island. However, those two mountains were called labeled as mountains for a reason. Even if the Antipodes mainland was not very big, those mountains were tall enough to be an inconvenience to even a more physically fit person. Lilly sadly was not the type of person to be able to scale a nearly 400 meter tall mountain in freezing winds that were moving at a speed which made Lilly wonder if a typhoon was nearby.

Instead, she would have to force herself to remain here on the rocky ridge and hope she does not catch a bad case of frostbite over night. At this point, Lilly was not thinking much about survival, she already knew she was not long from this world. While her only goal was to find Hisao and give him one final adieu, she was not contemplating on his whereabouts either. She was actually reflecting on a regret that was now looming over her in the most oppressive manner imaginable. Lilly kept thinking back to a moment in her home classroom. There was one day a few months ago in which her instructor was spending a long time lecturing her class over the geography of New Zealand. He spent the entire day jumping from one in depth discussion to the next. At first, he spoke about the ecosystem of New Zealand, and what types of flora and fauna reside there. He then began addressing his students on the geographical layout of not only New Zealand, but of her surrounding islands as well. Ironically, that was one of the few times Lilly was not paying attention. She was too busy day dreaming about whatever it was she usually thought of in her free time. What she would not give now for a map of the New Zealand region that she could actually read and actively decipher from.

That one little detail destroyed any last remaining remnants of hope that she had left. The idea that she could have literally had a good knowledge by now of where she was and how to find Hisao by now teased her greatly. One moment several months ago that could have held some very promising information and she missed it due to her own ignorance. She was beginning to believe that if she was not too busy being completely blinded in both a literal and even a metaphorical sense, she would have had been halfway intelligent enough to see this coming. Of course, this was merely her own ignorance shaming her for not having the same historical scope she did. She simply blamed her own defected eyes due to her cowardice to realize that she was the only one to blame for this situation. Now, she had to search for Hisao when all five of her senses had been numbed by either the cold, or a blatantly pessimistic attitude.

"That's it," Lilly exclaimed as she abruptly snapped her fingers. Her eyes opened with optimism which directly contradicted her previous mentality of self pity. "That kind man I met earlier. Rationalism! He told me that Hisao had been enlightened to some sort of ideology. He also said that Hisao was waiting on me to be enlightened as well. Rationalism kept saying that the only way I'll be able to find Hisao is when I've come to understand this new set of ideals that has been spreading around in this area. I suppose I will not be find Hisao on my own just by looking for him. After all, he could be anywhere at all on this island. It's just like my mother use to say to me before she left the country. If you're ever lost, stay in one place. So, I can now safely assume that Hisao is either some place I will never be able to locate without guidance, or he is actually on the island but he's constantly moving around. The only way I can find him, is to figure out what this ideology consists of."

Lilly then adopted a more cocky smile and let out an even more cocky yawn. She felt as if she had all of her problems figured out. This would only demonstrate just how naive the young blonde woman truly was. "I most certainly won't be able to collect the peaces of this puzzle by sitting around here," Lilly told herself and abruptly laid her back against the soft yet very tall grass. "I finally understand how this place works and why I'm on this island. I did not meet that odd man Ableism here. I met him somewhere else. If I think of this island as a hub which only exists as a midpoint between different plains of existence. Let's see... the last time I went to one of these plains, I was zapped there without even realizing it. There's no way for me to leave this island on my own, or at least not that I'm aware of. I can only sit here and wait for the next plain to take me away." With that, Lilly did exactly what she was had told herself to do. She lied there on the ground and soon fell asleep even with the intense winds, she was so tired she stopped caring. Her eyes fell heavy and she finally dozed off.

* * *

Deep inside the chasms beneath the Antipodes, Hisao was lying along a set of seats in that same row he had been sitting in for quite some time. Pacific was busy running amok on stage. After all, he had to get everything in order before his play could be presented to an audience of open minded intellectuals who desire to learn more about the enlightening ideology that Rationalism has proposed. The same one that Pacific was promoting constantly, and the same ideals Hisao had converted to after a long critical analysis of them.

Hisao lied there for the longest time with his left arm outstretched over his forehead. He kept his eyes on an old chandelier hanging from the ceiling of the cavern. It was surrounded by stalactites which covered the ceiling. Hisao had to admit that they were slightly unsettling. He felt that at any moment they could give way and fall on him, stabbing into his body or head which would be a most brutal yet oddly comical death for him. However, the new flawless set of ideals he has been enlightened to allow him to care far less about this than he normally would. Completely detached from life itself, Hisao sat under the dangerously sharp stalactites with a smile on his face. They were actually quite pretty in his opinion. They were not stone stalactites. In fact, they were all constructed completely out of ice. They were not subject to melting due to the freezing temperatures of the Antipodes which allowed them to stay there on the ceiling for as long as nature desired. The light from the chandelier reflected off, and bounced around against the ice which made the entire area above the caves glow.

"I wonder how much progress Lilly has made," Hisao pondered halfheartedly. "She isn't stupid, or at least not to my knowledge. She should be enlightened unless she's just to stubborn or simply keeps herself ignorant to our ideals."

Hisao's train of thought was abruptly interrupted as he saw a familiar skeleton walking in the aisle just next to his seat. This skeleton was not Pacific, Rationalism, or Hatred, all of whom Hisao has already met. Indeed, Hisao could tell who this was by the outfit the skeleton wore. He had on a black suit, purple tie, and shoes to match. He also wore the average hat a gentleman would be expected to wear when dressed in such a formal attire. Hisao gave a friendly smile to the skeleton which was now one of his new friends. "Hey Ableism," Hisao greeted which caused the dead man to stop in his tracks.

"Ah, good day to you Hisao," Ableism replied. It was unclear why someone with the name _Ableism_ was wasting his time associating with Hisao of all people. None of the less, Ableism appeared to enjoy Hisao's company quite well. "I was actually looking for you," Ableism informed. "I located you friend Lilly. She appears to be doing well on her own, but I got the vibe that she was on the verge of a mental breakdown just by seeing the look on her face."

"She'll be fine," Hisao said dismissively as he sat up in his seat.

"Also," Ableism continued. "I would like to say that I think it is very admirable that you and her both signed the contract. Every time, I meet a disabled person, either they're retarded or too cowardly to sacrifice themselves for the greater good of mankind. You will go down as one of my personal heroes, Hisao. I must say though, I do not think Lilly will be joining you in this sacrifice even if she did sign the contract. I've noticed several aspects of her personality. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Lilly appears to have an inferiority complex. She wishes to place herself above all others by ensuring that they look up to her, or rely on her in some way."

"You would be correct," Hisao stated with obvious cynicism. "I used to like that about her until Pacific informed me of how heinous this is. I believe her motherly attitude is merely a self formulated delusion to keep herself from remembering that she is completely blind and will never be as gifted as someone with eyesight. Just as I am not as gifted as a person with a fully functioning heart. However, I know that Lilly is a brilliant girl. She'll come to the same conclusions we all have. She'll keep her end of the deal when she learns of our ideals. I can safely guarantee you that."

"I hope you're correct Hisao," Ableism muttered in an almost nagging tone. "You've invested a lot of faith in her. And you above all others should know that faith is irrational. It is not a legitimate way of thinking."

"Believe me," Hisao retorted with confidence. "Faith plays no role in this. I know Lilly very well. Through unbiased logic and deduction skills, I have determined that Lilly will understand our new ways of thinking. She too will comprehend issues with the same mentality that we have adopted. I know she will."

* * *

Lilly woke up to an oddly warm sun beaming down on her face. She was lying on a wooden bench which was positioned on some odd dock near an unnamed coastline. The sun was unreasonably bright outside. For once, Lilly ought to be thankful for her lack of vision. The dock she was on was made of thick concrete. It was a bay that she found herself, but this place was definitely not anywhere near the set of subantarctic islands she was already growing familiar of. This place however, was far more tolerable in climate. Lilly could actually breath without the hundred mile an our winds surrounding her and stealing any potential air from her lungs. Instead of these wild winds, a gentle coastal breeze. Lilly enjoyed the calm serenity while she could, she knew that all too soon she would be returning to the now infamous Antipodes.

There was a beach directly behind Lilly which separated the ocean between a huge rocky wall that marked the beginning of whatever mainland she was now on. For anyone with actual sight, they could easily see just by looking at the massive size of this cliff face that it was apart of an enormous mass of land. There was a long line of old wooden shelters which presumably were the roofs to areas where sailors could park their boats and keep them sheltered from the harsh coastal elements. There was also a number of docks lining the beach, each one contained at least four boats floating next to it. While the abandoned boats were floating there next to the docks, the sailors who operated these boats were currently floating underneath the very skin of the water. Indeed, if someone wanted to see who use to own this bay, all they would have to do is look down into the murky water and they would see hundreds of dead bodies floating there for no reason at all.

Lilly averted her eyes to see if she could sense anything in the area. "Hisao," she questioned quietly but to no avail. He was not here however, there was another person here. This person was a woman with long black hair that hung down over her face, completely shielding it from anyone who might want to see what she actually looks like. She wore a white dress as well as a pair of white shoes to match the dress. She sat on the other side of the dock on a bench directly adjacent to Lilly. This woman's name was Macabre. Her personality was probably the primary reason she was given such a disturbing name.

"_Hello_," she spoke in a voice that echoed out in a manner which nearly caused poor Lilly to jump out of her skin. "I presume your name is Lilly Satou. You're the blind one. Not only are you blind to the world, but you are also blind to our new founded ideology. I take it you wish to know more about our mindset?"

"Yes," Lilly said without hesitation. She immediately turned to the direction this ghostly voice was coming from. "Please, tell me whatever you know!"

Macabre was slightly amused by how impatient Lilly was. "Calm down," she chuckled. "From what Hisao told me, you were suppose to be a more reserved and respectful woman. I must admit I was not expecting such an outburst. Regardless though, my name is Macabre. I will answer you one question and one question only so you'd better make it a good one."

Lilly let out a more annoyed sigh and bowed her head in defeat. A smile and polite demeanor definitely went a long way in this world. She was only now beginning to realize this the hard way through constantly being reminded by people that she must behave as a young lady ought to, then and only then would she receive her answers. Lilly then shut her eyes and began to contemplate this one aspect of life in the new world she was now trapped in. She was beginning to think far to much about little details such as this, but then again, she might be on to something when she was trying to wrap her brain around them. It was clear in this world that nothing was truly as it seemed which was directly the opposite of the bland, 2-dimensional world she was native to. She knew the nature of this world as a whole was much like the Antipodes Islands. It was cold, uncaring, and in many ways it wanted the inhabitants to die. From what Lilly could tell, there was absolutely no reward for trying to survive in this world. It was a pure void of incoherent madness in which Lilly could find no meaning.

"Can you tell me this at least," Lilly asked after a long thought. She had to make this one question count. She had to make it a very general question as well. After all, she would only have this one chance to speak with the woman named Macabre. She would have flat out asked where Hisao was, but not only did she know that Macabre would not answer her, but she would have wasted an otherwise very valuable opportunity. To finally figure out at least one aspect of this ideology or the world itself. Whether it be about the ecosystem, geography, why it makes no coherent sense or whatever else she could think of. Surprisingly though, none of these were related to her question.

"What is the motivation to live in your opinion," Lilly inquired. "By your ideals, what is the reason to keep living?" This was an odd question and even Lilly had to admit that. Out of all of the things she could have asked whether the topic be politic, religious, or philosophical, she asked what aspect of this mysterious ideology that has to deal with the concept of life. For some reason, she was drawn to this single question. She had a feeling by judging the attitudes and tendencies of the nihilistic people she had met along the way, this would be the best way to sink her metaphorical nails into the concepts that her beloved Hisao was now so fond of. The only concepts and acknowledgments that would lead her to him.

Macabre seemed to be amused by this as well. "There is no value here," Macabre informed. "Ever since we finally wrapped our minds around Rationalism's ideals, we have had no use for value. It is subjective, completely and totally subjective. As Rationalism tells us, value itself is nothing more than an opinion. It is your opinion of gold is worth something far more than what it actually is deserving of. Therefore, we apply this same logic of objectivity to all aspects of life. You see, child. There is no point to living your life. Nobody cares if you live or die. If you were rationally minded, you would not care either. However, this is what separates the weak from the strong willed. As Rationalism repeatedly says, 'survival of the fittest.' Only the strong deserve to live on, we hope that the weak souls of this world will all kill themselves off. Only the weak need to meaning to be given to a meaningless existence."

Lilly kept her mouth shut as Macabre kept speaking. She had to admit that Macabre was right in her accusations. There was nothing in the scope of objective perception as value. It is nothing more than a myth for the weak to find meaning, just as Macabre was saying to her now. Lilly tried to mentally counter everything that Macabre was saying about a meaningless life. She always believed life had meaning, the little cross around her neck was a sign of this belief. However, as much as Lilly tried to punch a hole in Macabre's argument, she could not. If there was no such thing as value. Then how could life be considered valuable? It could not, nor is it of any sort of value when speaking objectively and rationally. It would be counter-intuitive for Lilly to agree that nothing on the planet had any sort of objective or universal value, but to outright disagree that life itself was valueless. As a result, Lilly kept quiet and listened carefully to what Macabre was saying.

"In essence," Macabre snickered teasingly. "There is no reason for you to carry on living. The mentality now is that if you're simply too weak to live your life knowing that it is meaningless, and that there is no reward for it in the end, then by all means, leave this world. We do not want the weak around anymore. They hold back evolution. As long as they are allowed to live, the strong can never build upon what they have already created. The strong will never cease to be, and that is the answer to your question. I hope it was well worth the knowledge you gained because I am not allowed to answer another one."

That very last line made Lilly far more curious than it needed to. She tilted her head to the right in a puzzled manner. "I'm sorry," Lilly began. "But what do you mean? Why can't you say anything else? Who is not allowing you to tell me anymore?"

"Uh oh," Macabre giggled. "Sorry but I can't answer a single question from this point on. Nice try though. You almost tricked me into talking." Lilly was obviously disappointed to hear this. She wished she could have at least figured out who was really in charge around here.

Macabre then stood up and walked off towards the edge of the dock. For no reason at all, she abruptly and completely unexpectedly, threw herself into the ocean. Lilly heard the splash and looked in that direction. "Hello? What happened," Lilly questioned frantically. "Are you still there?" No answer came, at first Lilly assumed that Macabre was not responding because she was keeping to her word of not answering another one of Lilly's questions, but after awhile Lilly realized this was not the case. Macabre simply left her alone for whatever unexplained reason.

Lilly then relaxed herself and crossed her arms in a pouting manner. She leaned her back against the wood of the bench and shut her eyes in irritation. If anything, that one answer she received, while it painted a good framework on how Hisao's ideology worked, Lilly now had more questions then ever before. She wanted to know what these ideals had to say when it came to concepts of social structure, creed, and other such sociopolitical topics. She could at least now make a lot of the connections herself. With this new understanding of how nihilistic these ideals were, she could safely begin to peace more of it together herself. Lilly was at least feeling a little more confident. With this vague yet vast vein of knowledge tapped, she could now comprehend the grand scheme of whatever it was Hisao now believed.

Now there was only one question left for Lilly to answer. Who was really in charge here? From what she could tell, somebody was in control of this place. She already knew now that the man calling himself Rationalism was the founder of this ideology. She also knew that Hisao was fond of him. However, that did not mean that Rationalism was running the show. "_Think_," Lilly exclaimed to herself. "Who do we know now," she asked her own subconscious as she attempt to piece this all together with the small amount of information she had off hand.

"Okay," she explained aloud and held a single index finger in the air. "So far, I've met someone named Rationalism. All I know about him is that he started this whole thing. That man knows everything. If I can locate him again I must might be able to convince him to tell me everything about this little philosophy everyone has been speaking so much of. He appeared to be quite nice the last time I met him. He was very helpful, I think I can squeeze a little more information out of him though."

Lilly then shifted her brain to the next person on the list. "Now, another person I've already met, and someone who seems to be a pretty big topic around these parts would be that man named Pacific. From what I can remember from that restaurant Hisao took me to, he was not as kind as Rationalism. In fact he was very rude and pushy. Rationalism even said that he was more radical and zealous. Unfortunately, Rationalism also informed me that Hisao was listening to that man also. Hisao was acting strangely as well. I hope he hasn't changed since he met these people. Oh, I really hope he does not change his wonderful ways at all."

Lilly abruptly shook the mournful expression off of her face and refocused herself on the topic at hand. She would worry about Hisao later, but at the moment, she needed to compile everything she has learned so far. "Regardless! Pacific is the person I really need to locate. In fact, I wonder," she pondered. Lilly acted as if she had struck an intellectual gold mine. "Let me see... the last person I met was Macabre. She informed me that she was not allowed to answer more than one question that I may have for her. But who would tell her to do that? I have tendency to imagine that man the call Pacific is the only one who would tell her that. Rationalism seems to want to help me, but he acts as if he cannot either. Is it possible that this _Pacific_ person is telling everyone here not to help me? Is it some sort of test that he's placed me under?"

The blonde woman then stood up with a more determined expression on her face. She did not have a lot of information, but what little tidbits she did have were very useful for building upon what she already knew to gain a new grasp of understanding on the situation. She would need every last drop of knowledge she could gain if she was to ever have a hope of actually finding Hisao before she to end up frozen like an ice statue on the Antipodes.

* * *

Meanwhile, in a grassy field in the middle of nowhere, an odd scene was unfolding. There in the center of the field was a man, or at least at first glance he appeared to be a man. Rather, this _creature_ wore a formal black suit. This entity did indeed have the head of a man but it was completely warped almost to an unrecognizable degree. There was a pair of short black horns on his four head. There was nothing on his face that resembled eyes or even a nose. The only thing he had on his face was a huge gaping mouth. The bottom jaw had been stretched downwards halfway to the ground while his tongue was free to move around in the air in front of his face.

This was not the only ominous or creepy thing about the man in the field. He had too incredibly long legs. One was planted firmly on the ground while the other was bent around uncomfortable on the air in front of him. The man also had six arms total. They were all very long and thin like noodles just as his legs were. There were three on each side of his torso. All six of these arms were busy preforming a juggling act. Indeed, the man was juggling eight different bowling pins in an impressive way. They constantly span around in the air in a perfect circle, and not once did this entity mess up the act.

The man had unreasonably long black hair that was crazily waving around in the air for no explainable reason. He wore a top hat over this hair as well, but that hat did not hide his horns from the world's spectacle. Another notable detail about this man would be his eyes. His eyes were wide open in an insane manner. However, the oddest thing about them would be the fact that he had no iris and no pupil visible at any corner of his eyes. They were merely white orbs with the occasional blood vessel stretching across them.

The juggling creature also produced a horrid sound from his incredibly huge mouth. It sounded as if it was a cross between a gurgling and a growling noise. He kept producing this noise without even stopping for a breath of fresh air. Although, it was definitely debatable whether or not this creature even needed air. This entity has been juggling in this exact same spot for an eternity. Never once did it move, nor eat. Since that was the case it probably did not need oxygen. However, it would appear that its days of juggling for an invisible audience were finally about to come to an end. This creature which use to be immortal, was about to know what mortality truly meant.

Out from behind the juggling creature, an even more horrifying entity walked up. It was the butcher with the pig's head. He was still wearing his blood covered apron and he still had that huge meat cleaver in hand. The entity juggling the bowling pins did not seem to notice or perhaps did not care about the fact that the infamous butcher was right behind him.

The butcher calmly watched the juggler for the longest time. At an abrupt moment and for an unknown reason, the butcher suddenly grew tired of this scene. Instead of watching the juggler, the butcher decided it was high time this insane entity be turned into his family's next meal. He raised his enormous meat cleaver far above the unsuspecting juggler. Then, in a very decisive and swift motion, the butcher brought the cleaver downwards, straight into his head. The cleaver easily cut through the juggler's skull, killing him instantly.

The juggler then fell to the ground in a bloody mess. With nothing left to do but chop the body up and cook it, the butcher grabbed the corpse by the foot, and began dragging him back to his little house to cook a nice meal for his demented family.


	5. Abstract

_Note: I actually gave some pretty good hints about the overall plot of the story for those who are truly paying attention._

* * *

**Abstract**

Lilly wondered around aimlessly as she usually did. She was at one point traveling around on the Antipodes when she suddenly bumped into the doorway to an old structure. As Lilly felt around in this dark building, she quickly realized it was a maze. Although, if one were to gain a birds eye view of the realm she was now trapped in, one could easily see it was not a maze, but a labyrinth with a single light flickering in the center.

The only noise present was the tapping of Lilly's cane. The walls twisting around to form this little ensnarement were actually book shelves. Had Lilly have not been too blind to notice, she would see that every book had a maroon cover. On the top area of the spine of the book, there was an eyeball moving around, watching Lilly as she explored the maze. Thousands of eyes rested upon her. They all looked exactly the same as well. They were a familiar shade of deep blue and were completely glazed over. In essence they were the eyes Lilly was not gifted to have.

"Who stands yonder in the darkness," a voice abruptly called out from afar. Lilly opened one of her useless eyes at the unfamiliar tone. "For what sane mind travels through the bowls of their own? Is it not for the sake of a sanity one loses which he must now set out to find? If it is sanity thou searches for, he hast come to the wrong location for there is none to be found in the labyrinth which his thy mind."

"I've only come to learn," Lilly called back. "My name is Lilly. Lilly Satou. And what might yours be?"

The entity before her stepped up out of the darkness and into a small plain of visibility. The entity thus revealed itself to be Tela. The creature with the mule's head, goat's feet, human's hands, and a body covered in white robes. "Oh, my mistake," he corrected himself. "Listen closely girl, my name is Tela, and I have been waiting quite some time to finally meet the mythical Lilly in person."

"Mythical," Lilly questioned in curiosity but Tela waved the question away dismissively.

"Come along," Tela requested. "If it is knowledge and wisdom you seek out," he explained. "Then you have indeed come to the correct place. I will tell you what you have already earned the right to know, so listen carefully."

* * *

Pacific walked along a filthy street corner somewhere in the world. There were low life scoundrels sitting on the ground, wasting away in a hot urban sun. Pacific passed them by on the sidewalk and turn his skull away from them as he went. Is this not what they deserved? Are they not so weak and feeble they cannot even provide for themselves? If so, then they are simply not deserving of same treatment as the strong men and women of this earth.

The skeleton named after the largest ocean on earth suddenly halted his stride. He could no longer even stomach the creatures lying at his feet for they are sickening in appearance. "Weakness, weakness, and more _weakness_," Pacific growled and swiped the air in front of him in a more violent manner. "To think that something such as a parasite like the individuals to my feet are actually allowed to exist. This is an outrage."

* * *

Tela invited Lilly back to his true abodes which was separate from the white room he usually spent his time in. They were currently sitting at a small tea table at the very center of the labyrinth. There was a bright candle of gold wax burning itself away in between the two in the middle of the table. Lilly sat on one side while Tela sat on the opposite side. He had one of the maroon books with an eye on the spine positioned on the table just in front of him. Tela then placed both of his hands on the cover of the book and opened it up.

"Lilly Satou," Tela began. "I will educate you on the essence of your futile existence." He waited to see if Lilly would respond but she did not. This allowed Tela to continue speaking. "To begin, I must inform you that the cross you wear on your neck is a farce. It is a lie brought upon by the cowardice of men who cannot grasp the truth of the universe. Your necklace is an insult to knowledge and evolution. I will now ask you to remove it while you are in my presence."

Lilly opened her eyes in a slightly shocked manner. She was not expecting the religious item around her neck to be criticized, but it would appear that these ideals she was learning about now were designed to not only question, but to insult everything in their way. Just like any other strong philosophy, the ideals brought on by Rationalism, and enforced by Pacific were the foundation of cognitive thinking patterns which were out only to destroy what society has already constructed. In that sense, a new society composed of the true ideals would be born, but first everything else that counteracts their ideals must be obliterated from the minds of man.

Lilly nodded and complied with Tela's requested. She moved her hands behind her neck and into her long blonde hair where she proceeded to remove the chain around her neck. She then pulled the catholic necklace off of her person and placed it in her lap out of Tela's sight. The man who would now be reeducating her on the new ideals.

"Thank you," Tela nodded. "Now, to begin. I will speak to you about the true nature of creation. Seeing as how you were previously wearing a cross around your neck which is a most egotistical thing to do, you probably already believe you have a fond grip on what is the creation of all men, do you not?"

"I would like to think so," Lilly replied.

"But you know not," Tela corrected. "In fact, your ignorance is insulting on behalf of all mankind. Religion was an ancient tool utilized by man to satisfy his insatiable need to understand the enigma which is death. There is no other reason for such a myth to exist. Likewise, others resent this tool as it is forced upon them. They promote instead of an afterlife, the concept that the world was created through cosmic events rather than divine intervention. Neither of these two are the case. No god is around to create us nor was their an explosion which created life. It is preposterous to assume that either of these two idiotic theories are correct. How dare thyself express to his fellow man myths in the same sense one would express a fact!? It is criminal to lie about the ideals brought forth by creationism. Whether one theorizes a deity is responsible for creation, or a catastrophic cosmic event, it is all the same and it is all a lie. Something came from nothing. For there is no other explanation for such an event. Humanity fools itself. Either it is too afraid of death to face its infinity of unconsciousness, or they are afraid of religion itself. Regardless of the scenario, they mindlessly fool themselves one way or another."

Lilly abruptly raised her hand to silence Tela's ranting for a moment. "I'm sorry," she said with confusion. "But from my current understanding of your explanations, you are describing the faultiness of creationism, but I assumed you would be educating me on Hisao's views of death."

"I will elaborate more on death in a moment," Tela informed. "Everything I speak of will tie into the point I am attempting to make. Now, to return to my previous subject. It is true that man was created, however, it was technically not of creation. The concept that humanity was created is simply one more way for humanity to justify the existence of an afterlife, or to resent religious zealots. That being said, it would be dishonesty to say that men were not created. Yet as I vaguely just described, we were created from nothing. There was not one incident nor entity which created the human race for it is simply impossible to suggest such ideals. Now, imagine death with the knowledge I just gave you. There is no afterlife, for there is no soul in your body. What the people speak of is not a metaphysical from of existence, nay, for they are referring to the mind. It is the mind that exists and contemplates on a higher point in reality, but this does not mean the mind is the gateway to the soul. Thou doeth not have what some might call a soul. It is not real nor is it a feasible thing to contemplate. Therefore, how can life exist when there is no life to be had? How can you continue to live when the mind has all, but failed in its duties to allow you the privilege of contemplation on a properly evolved level? The answer is, you cannot. People of all walks of life wonder what awaits them beyond the grave. Some say the living will never have the answer, yet I have the answer. There is nothing beyond the grave! Imagine falling into a peaceful, dreamless sleep. Now, imagine never waking up. Or perhaps you would better relate to the interval of time before you were born. Do you remember it?"

Lilly was confused by the question. Never once as she even though of the time before she was born. She never could contemplate such an existence. It is simple, either there was no existence or she merely existed on a different plain. Neither of which are possible in a physical sense yet they are both true. "The time before I was born," asked Lilly. "No, how might I even fathom such a thing?"

"For it is a time you should not remember," Tela elaborated. "I cannot in good sense give you a detailed description of life before the womb for I was born at the same time you were. And alas, there is no life before the womb. Allow me to explain. In the beginning, you are nothing, then you come out of nothing. It is simple. For an eternity you were nothing yet at the end of this finite eternity you are finally something, now aren't you dear?"

"If I was nothing for an eternity," Lilly inquired slowly. "Then how was it an eternity? If an eternity is an interval of time which never ends, then does your argument not collapse in upon itself? Have you not aborted your ideological child with such an oxymoron?"

Tela abruptly laughed at Lilly's keen observation of everything he was saying. It was good to know she was listening if not for anything else. "Oh, believe me," Tela said in an almost sly way. "An eternity can have a beginning or an end but it cannot have both."

Lilly tilted her head at the unusual statement. "_Elaborate_," she requested flatly.

"It's quite a simple concept to grasp once it has been fully explained in a proper way," Tela informed. "To begin, let us take any interval of time. Now, stretch that until you simply cannot see where it ends. Sure it begins where you stand but it never ends, or at least in your perception. In a way, that is the average lifespan of a man. To him it looks to be an eternity but that is only because he cannot see the end. Now, on the concept of a real infinity though. I suppose the best way to explain my point on eternity would be to return to the previous topic. It is true that when you were born, the time you had being lost in oblivion ended. You would not be wrong for thinking that this would make such a point in time infinite yet you would be wrong. As I said earlier, there was no definite point in history in which man was created and the same goes for you. In shorter terms Lilly, you were always nothing yet now you are something."

"I'm still having trouble following you," Lilly sighed in confusion.

"Very well," Tela stated in a slower tone. "Eternity, by definition, is an interval of time which never ends. You claim that the moment before you were born is not an eternity because it has an end. I say that isn't true. Time can have a beginning, or an end and still be considered an eternity. You see, there was no beginning of that interval. In actuality, you never existed, but you exist now. This is the same truth for humanity. In the beginning there is nothing and it feels like an instant because time does not pass for things that do not exist. When you sleep, you are lying in your bed for an average of usually eight hours yet to you it feels as if the same amount of time passes for you to snap your fingers. That is because you are unconscious. You temporarily erase consciousness until the next day. Your thought processes cease to be, yet they are revived over time. Since this is the case, you are not able to comprehend time in such a state. When your mind cannot perceive..."

"There is nothing to perceive," Lilly asked.

Tela shook his head in response. "No, reality still exists. As I have said to some of my other students, reality is material and does not change. That is something that irritates me about modern philosophy, it challenges reality when there is nothing about the physical plain challenge yet that is neither here nor there. The point is, when you are asleep, time still moves on because the universe does not exist simply to appease your eyes. In essence, you can fall into a long coma and wake up as if it never happened. This is not because time changes speed while you are asleep, you simply do not comprehend time and therefore, in your mind, it is not but it is. When you sleep, perception leaves you but when you are awake, perception operates to help you understand what is universal reality. Now, that being said, the only reason time does act so speedy from your perspective while you sleep is because you do wake up after a certain interval. The same concepts apply to you before you were born. You are not conscious when you are not physically manifested yet. You come from nothing, absolutely nothing. Time moves on without you. The beginning arrives, you are born. You say not a word but cry. You cry in the same way every child does. They cry because they realize on subconscious level that their existence has begun. When one's existence begins, so does their permanent end. It is such a beautiful symbol of meaningless misery. You remember not the time when you were nothing. Even now that your mind has matured to understand the tools of language, sound, and intellectual thought, you still do not remember that which is not. While the rest of us live, you were still nothing. Then when you are brought into this world, not due to some ridiculous theory or divine creation, you are simply constructed from nothing and you will return to nothing. Yet you deny this. You wear the symbol of religion. You lie to yourself by insisting that a god awaits you at the end of your meaningless existence. How could there be such a thing if you do not remember interacting with such an entity? The truth of the matter is, you cannot because there is nothing beyond the physical plain. Now, the point I am trying to make to you Lilly, is this."

Tela glanced over his shoulder before continuing. "That interval of time does end with you being born into the physical plain, but where does the interval begin?" Lilly appeared to have no answer so Tela spoke for her. "That is an eternity by definition. It may have an end, but it hath no beginning, therefore, it is infinite. Then you begin your life. You evolve to the point where you fellow man have arrived. You go from an insignificant infant, to an irritating toddler. From there you end up as an ignorant adolescent, which is where you remain trapped. You cling to the philosophies of old ages long lost to time itself. Time needs these lies no longer. Mankind needs not these lies either. It is because of people such as yourself that keep humanity in the dark to the truth. There was no creation because to have such a thing is to have cause and effect. Yet how can one have such a thing without cause. You are the effect but what is the cause? _Nothing!_ Nothing at all! There is no god, there is no explosion! There is only darkness at the end of this vista of physical reality and nothing else awaits you! Your cross is a symbol of a cowardly lie. Perhaps you were brainwashed by your cowardly parents who abandoned you when you were young. Or perhaps you chose to hold that filthy symbol sacred because you are afraid of the fact that your vile life has no meaning! You are the weak, the enemy of mankind! You are the reason evolution has come to a standstill. Until the mentally and physically weak are all eliminated, humanity will be allowed to evolve beyond the point of such mindless lies."

"I understand now," Lilly interjected in a flat tone. "You and Hisao support what is basically Social Darwinism. By returning to the natural way of life which was what raised humanity during the beginning stages of evolution, you expect to continue evolving. Because man has abandoned the laws of nature, we can no longer evolve. The only way you expect to continue humanity's evolutionary journey is to kill off the weaker people of whom you believe to be holding back the evolution process. You hope to do this by enforcing the philosophy of complete nihilism which you believe will cause the weak to kill themselves. Would I be correct in this analysis?"

"That is correct," Tela nodded. "In essence, you Lilly Satou are one of the many who hold back humanity from the next step in evolution. It is up to you to destroy yourself and allow the strong to evolve."

"Is it because I'm blind," Lilly questioned.

"Yes," said Tela. "You are blind, therefore you are not strong. You are not strong enough to see the physical world for what it is. You have been punished for your weakness by also being ignorant to Hisao's newly acquired enlightenment. He hears my words. The words of Pacific and Rationalism and he knows that there is no afterlife, which means life is meaningless. He knows and understands us long before you have even heard this message. That should tell you exactly what true blindness is. Weakness. Hisao's defected heart also makes him weak, which is why he must leave this world too. Yet he comprehends this, and that is why he signed Pacific's contract. That is why he forced you to sign the contract as well. I will not tell you what the contract says, that you will have to learn about on your own. In fact I think I have said a little too much for now so I'll just return to my original topic."

Tela leaned back in his seat while Lilly looked down and traced her cross pendant with her thumb. "Death is simply the concept of your body returning to nothing. It returns to the void from whence it came. If birth is the entrance to the physical realm, then the grave is the large exit door which automatically locks from the inside. You do not exist anymore. As aforementioned, death can only be compared to a deep sleep or the moment in time before birth. The only difference is that death has a beginning but no end. You will never wake up yet time moves on. You do not process time anymore which means it will feel like it flies by in an instant. Seconds turn to minutes, minutes turn to hours, hours turn to days, days turn to weeks, weeks turn to months, months turn to years, years turn to decades, decades turn to centuries, centuries turn to millenniums, millenniums turn to eons; and yet it will all flow by instantaneously because your mind can no longer process the passing of the fourth dimension. You Lilly Satou, will be finished, and you will never be able to comprehend the march of time again. This is your fate just as it is my fate. Now you understand why myths exist to blind humanity from such a depressing fate, now you also see why myths exist only to combat religion. I wish you luck now, even though there is no such thing as luck. I have no faith in you because faith doeth not exist either. Now bestow your remaining questions elsewhere, for I have already explained all that is needed to be known at the moment."

"Wait," Lilly pleaded and stood up, allowing her cane to fall to the floor, she placed both hands on the table in an aggressive manner. It would appear that she could not reserve her meaningless emotions forever. She was becoming quite angry with the fact that the ideologies which she adopted since her childhood were now being thwarted and crushed from all sides by a clearly superior yet inhumane philosophy that cometh with a new rational age. "If there is no afterlife, would that not make life meaningful in the sense in which it is the only plain of existence which can be comprehended by the minds of men? Does it not give worth in the fact that it is the only interval that is not of nothing but rather, it is something?"

"No," Tela said flatly. "I will retort this one hopeless argument, but after that I will send you back to the Antipodes. Why are you so hung up on finding meaning in a meaningless world? The fact is, there is no meaning because meaning can only be determined on a subjective level. A murderer sees value in human life in the same since as one sees the value in gold. It is all subjective. Value is based around opinion. There is no value in the world but that is a lesson you will have to learn on your own. Now, I wish you a fond goodbye Lilly Satou."

With that, Tela simply snapped his fingers and Lilly, along with her cane, faded away. Tela then stood up and began pacing the room. He held his right hand to his chin as he did this. "Now, my part is out of the way," he sighed. "Unfortunately for me, I believe my time on the material realm is coming to an end just like the others. I can feel it now. I can feel my final breaths drawing me ever closer to the end. It is a cold, bitter conclusion to the world which hath no meaning. It is the end of pain. It is the end of misery. It is the end of the long hiatus in man's revolution. However, my life is officially completed. I understand my existence at this point in time. I give my better half the ideals passed down from Rationalism and promoted by Pacific. Both of them, gave us their minds and for that humanity must thank them. I must thank them for my existence. For it is they who have allowed my presence in the bowls of contemplation. I gave the gift of rational thought to her. It is her to whom wisdom must be granted as she is a window to the minds of intelligent men who live their lives, fooled by those ancient and modern lies which prevent them from seeing an infamous truth that is sure to destroy the weak. It is the weak of whom cause all the world's suffering. Weakness may come in all forms but there is an antidote to such a disease, that being the understanding that everything in the universe is just as it seems. Face value must be valued by the true nihilist in the since that there is no value in a face. That is why I exist. I play a significant role in the stage of Lilly's enlightenment. The only thing left is to embrace serenity when it finally comes to me. The weak live to die while the strong live to thrive on a black and white plain. Therefore, I must wait for serenity to take me, and how I shall wait here in the depressing darkness, until the very end."

* * *

Lilly woke up, lying on her back near the cliff facing Leeward Island. Once again, the Antipodes welcomed her home with a horrid antarctic blast. Strangely enough, she did not react. She simply opened her eyes and continued to watch the clouds above even if she could not see them. She had an expression of defeat on her face. She felt as if she could no longer go on, especially if she had to comprehend such depressing monologues like the ones she has already dealt with.

Lilly felt her cross pendent in the palm of her right hand while her cane was in her left. She clenched her right hand into a fist as tears began streaming down her useless eyes. She abruptly sat up in an aggressive manner and threw the cross out into the ocean where it would be lost in relentless waves which refuse to freeze over, no matter how cold the water may be. She then laid back down and curled up in a fettle position.

"It really is true," she said with a sour tone. "I have been lied to my entire life. I exist for nothing which is what I was constructed from. That explains why the earth can so perfectly operate all to support us. It comes from nothing, it is and there is no reason to go any further with the explanations. It is not comprehensible because we do not exist in the void that surrounds us. This explains why we are also alone in the universe. My mother told me that as long as I never sinned, I would be able to see once I died. But it was all a lie. A cruel illusion to trick me in doing what they believe to be immoral. I still have my morality left though. I still have my desire to see Hisao but are those next to go? Are those going to be destroyed as well? If the world only exists on an objective and rational level, that means there is no such thing as anything other than what we as a collective of human beings can physically see. Does that not mean that even though Hisao is the only thing sacred to me, I will eventually see no value in him either? By their logic, there is no value in his life because it is all by opinion. Now I need to know, if value does not exist, then why can I metaphorically see it in Hisao?"

Lilly shook the topic out of her head, knowing soon she would be forced to face whatever cruel truth regards such a topic. "And creation," she thought aloud to herself. "If they do not tolerate the belief in God, and treat the Big Bang as a myth to denounce God, then what is left to believe in? What is left to keep faith in? Is there any point to faith in a world completely absorbed in rational and objective thought? No. Of course not, rationalism and faith are the great opposites in historical philosophy. The only opposing schools of thought I can think which are completely different would be morality and rationalism which revolve around different concepts that clash with each other. It is only now that I realize how contradictory everything I was taught truly is. I live in a single spec of physical manifestation which is surrounded by a void of nothing. This void can be reflected in the meaninglessness of our lives."

She clenched her cane tightly as she continued her train of thought. "There's no point in trying to understand that which we cannot see for if we cannot comprehend it in a physical state, it does not exist and there is no sense in having faith in it... _I feel so lonely. _Is loneliness a fake state of being? Is love a fake sense of feeling? Is feeling a fake sense of living? Is living a fake state of existence? I truly am not alive am I? I truly do not feel do I? I truly do not love Hisao, do I? I truly do not feel lonely do I? No. How can I? If life is meaningless. If existence is nothing more than a lie to begin with, then all of those other things are lies too. They are fantasies. They give our existence depth to hide from the fact that life is as shallow as a puddle."

It would appear that Lilly was finally beginning to understand. One is not created, one is from nothing. One lives as an illusion, and dies as nothing. If an illusion is all the physical plain is, then it is nothing more than a time out from an eternity in what some may consider to be a worse fate than the ninth annex of Dante's Hell. She was beginning to understand that what she cannot perceive with her five senses do not exist. To believe in what one cannot comprehend is faith. To have faith is to be irrational. To be irrational, is to live a lie which is more meaningless than the horrifying truth.


	6. Leveling

**Leveling**

Hisao sat comfortably in that same row of seats in the underground theater while Lilly was above ground, exposed to unbearable temperatures. With a serene smile on his face, Hisao laid there on the seats. His eyes were closed and his hands were folded back over his head as if he didn't have a care in the world. While he relaxed, Ableism, Pacific, and a few others were running around on stage.

Rationalism walked up to him after awhile. "Hisao," Rationalism questioned which caused Hisao to open one eye. "Have you heard anything about Lilly's whereabouts? It's been a few hours now. Has she not found her way here yet?"

"Nope," Hisao yawned and shut his eyes once more. "Haven't heard anything. I'm sure she's still out there learning. Oh well, she'll figure it out eventually."

"Are you not worried about her," asked Rationalism. "She's _your_ friend after all. And you do know it's very dangerous on the Antipodes. If she spends too much time up there, she might catch a nasty case of frostbite. You should probably give her a hand."

"If she's not strong enough to reach enlightenment then she doesn't deserve to live," Hisao insisted heartlessly.

Rationalism found this very upsetting. The fact that these new ideals can root in to Hisao's young mind so quickly and drive a fork in between himself and his closest companion. Then again, if Hisao was now on a higher level of thinking, then there was no point in wasting time with someone as insignificant and weak as Lilly. "Why don't you go and give her a visit," inquired Rationalism. "It can't hurt. It would probably be good for her to hear your voice one more time as well."

Hisao then sat up and glared at Rationalism. It became clear to the skeleton at that point that he had been overshadowed by Pacific. He knew Hisao would never dream of making such a face to Pacific. Rationalism found it depressing that the radical Pacific had gained more followers using his philosophies, rather than Rationalism himself.

"Why would I do that? She doesn't need my voice to reach enlightenment. Either she will and die with knowledge, or she won't and die with the shame of an ignorant mind. If she doesn't learn our ideals on her own then I shall be forever disgusted by her."

"You and Pacific are being far to harsh on the poor girl," Rationalism asserted. "Besides, she is already determined to see you again through learning our ideals. However, at the rate she's going, you'll be gone by the time she does so. Hisao, I conceived these ideals which you hold so dear. Please, do me the favor of meeting with Lilly at least one more time before your half of the contract is fulfilled. Perhaps you could teach her something as well. Who knows, maybe hearing you tell her about our ideals may make her see the sense behind them."

"Very well," Hisao sighed. "I didn't realize my time would be up so quickly. Okay, I'll go and teach her a lesson. I think I have a good topic to share with her and then I'll return immediately after we've met. So long."

Rationalism nodded and Hisao stood up from his seat. He then walked past Rationalism and off towards the exit. Now that Hisao was gone, Rationalism could have a private word with Pacific and the other people who were currently with him. He turned to face the stage and calmly approached it as casual as he would anything else.

He stepped up on the stage and placed his hands in his pockets. "Oh, Pacific. Could I speak with you for a moment? It's regarding this business about the contract." Pacific turned around to face Rationalism as he continued. "I would like to ensure myself that your play will not jeopardize my research. Also, there are few more things I would like to inquire you about. I need to make sure that both Lilly and Hisao will remain unharmed in the areas we agreed upon. That concerns me, and I would also like to know something else, but we'll touch up on that topic later."

Pacific tilted his skull at the sudden questions which he was not expecting. "Very well," Pacific replied. "Ask away."

* * *

Lilly found herself sitting on a green couch in an average sized living room. There was a coffee table in front of her with nothing on it. There was also a large oil painting behind her which depicted the Danish philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard. The picture watched Lilly and the entire room silently as if Mr. Kierkegaard himself was a spectator to her life.

She was not alone in this room, of course not. Lilly was never alone, even if she believed she was most of the time. However, this time, Lilly was physically in the presence of two creatures who sat in recliners across the room. These creatures looked like stereotypical demons straight out of a Gustave Doré painting. They both had horns, a tale, red scaly skin, and fangs. The only difference between the two was that the demon sitting on the left hand side was a male while the other was female.

"Lilly Satou," the stated in unison. This caused Lilly to jump awake as she was not expecting voices. She looked around even though she could see nothing before returning her attention to the place she last heard the voices.

"Who's there?"

"Why must our son be attracted to such a wretch," the female demon inquired. Lilly immediately realized she was speaking to Hisao's parents after she heard the rather insulting statement. She sighed in extreme disappointment. One of her more recent phobias would be of Hisao's parents disapproving of her. She had only caught a glimpse of them the last time Hisao was in the hospital and never once spoke to her even though the where well aware of who she was.

"It's nice to meet you two," Lilly began in a shaky voice. She looked down to her lap in a sheepish manner. "It's an honor to meet you two at long last. I'm sorry, but is Hisao around here? Have either of you seen him?"

For no reason whatsoever, the male demon who should more properly be called Mr. Nakai abruptly laughed aloud for a few seconds before he quieted down and acted as if it never happened. Lilly wanted to inquire him about this but she decided against it.

"Um," Lilly said quietly to try and refocus the conversation. She was about to say something else but she stopped herself. She then proceeded to sit there on the couch in silence for fifteen minutes. Nobody said a word, and Lilly could feel them staring at her which led to her becoming uncomfortable enough to finally say something else. "Where is the exit," she questioned flatly, having no need to speak with these two anymore. She new they had no information on Hisao nor on his idealism. Staying here would be nothing more than a waste of her time.

"Oh," Mrs. Nakai said with false astonishment. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize we were keeping you from attending to your nighttime customers. Well, be careful."

While it was an abrupt and out of the ordinary comment, Lilly knew exactly what Hisao's supposed mother was implying. With an offended look in her face, Lilly quickly stood up and promptly stormed off. It would surprisingly take her no time at all to find the front door. She opened it up and stepped outside, although she was not really outside. She calmly walked into a dark room which appeared to be a very classy hotel room. It was empty apart from Hisao who laid on a table on the far end of the room nearest to a huge window which granted a nice view of unnamed nighttime city below. At Lilly's current position, she was surrounded by a small hallway. To her right was the door to a restroom and to her left was a mirror on the wall. She stepped further inside the room until she entered the main area where Hisao was.

To the right of Lilly were two perfectly made beds, each having their own lamp and bedside table while a television set, and an oil painting of a blooming lily above the television. The blonde woman listened to the silence of the room for a few moments. The only thing she could hear was the usual ambient noises within the room. She was mainly listening to the familiar sound of light breathing which was coming from an area directly ahead of her. There was just enough light produced from the city outside for Hisao to see her without straining his eyes. However, he did not seemed to be even remotely fazed by her being here in the same room with him.

"Have you ever heard of the concepts of leveling," Hisao asked. Lilly halted everything she was doing and turned towards the direction she heard the instantaneously recognized voice.

"Hisao," Lilly inquired.

"Leveling was a concept created during an in depth analysis of the Present Age," Hisao explained even though Lilly was probably not interested in philosophy at this point. "It is the idea that all things are equally valueless, and the only way to have a balanced society is to enforce the idea that life along with the world are completely valueless."

"Hisao," Lilly insisted.

"It is the only way to create a proper social structure," Hisao continued in monotone. "What is the point in preaching pride to mass of worthless individuals. It would be a disservice to allow their egos to thrive on the concept of value."

Lilly grew frustrated with Hisao for the first time she could think of. She clenched her cane with irritation. "Stop it! I don't care! Where have you been!? What are we doing in this sort of place? What's going on here?"

It took Hisao a few seconds to formulate a response. "If you do not wish to hear what I have to say then get out of my sight. It's ignorant people like yourself that put such a fowl taste in my mouth and color my views of all others. I come here to educate you, yet you insist you do not care. If so, then leave and do not return."

There was clearly no way around this. Lilly was most certainly not going to leave when she spent so much time searching for Hisao and learning about these new philosophies floating around in this world. She would simply have to listen to what he had to say. She let out a defeated sigh and lowered her head in submission. "Fine," Lilly breathed in disappointment. "Tell me about levelling if it's so important but after that, I need to speak with you."

Hisao simply rolled his eyes and relaxed himself once more before he said anything. "To eliminate the lie that is value," Hisao explained. "We must first remove value from life itself. A human life has no value, for it has no meaning. You cannot show me a universal concept of value. If such a thing was universal, if it was a physical reality, then everyone would use a single currency with the same value stamped on each coin. It is merely your opinion on how valuable a bar of gold is, just as it is your opinion on how much a living being is worth. The objective, rational, and realistic answer is nothing. If I were to hold up a red pin in front of a classroom and shout, '_look here, what lies in the palm of my hand?_' The entire class, unless either blind or color blind will respond with, '_for it is a pen, colored red!_' Indeed, the pen is red because it has objective truth to prove such claims. You can physically see it. Yet value has no objectivity, therefore, it does not exist. No subjective idea can be considered a reality. The only people who hold subjectivity as truth are faithful morons and nothing more. They are irrational, and impure in thought."

Lilly tilted her head in astonishment as Hisao went on and on. She was surprised to hear such nihilistic things from him of all people. It was no secret to her that he had taken on the ideals of Rationalism and Pacific, but she found herself taken off guard when his voice stated such things. Regardless of this, Lilly could not argue with him, seeing as how he was correct in his thesis. There is no such thing as value because it does not exist on the purely objective, physical plain. It exists merely on a subject plain of conscious thought.

"Leveling is thus a state of physical and mental being," Hisao proclaimed. "The goals and aims of leveling is to break down a man's self worth to the point in which he no longer values his life nor the lives of others. He exists on the same 'value' as every other man, woman, and child on earth. With no value at all. Leveling is simply an educational process and nothing more. The point is to take every person on the planet and destroy not only pride, but individuality. The people must live as a common collective. A cloud of consciousness that keeps a sovereignty afloat. There is no use for individualism, for individualism not only creates conceitedness, but it destroys what is the natural collective nature of mankind."

Hisao took a breath before continuing. "If no one is allowed to see themselves differently from others, you are thus giving them more and more anarchist rule. Each person must think the exact same way. They must all be the same. We are no different then the other animals on the planet, yet they are all perfectly leveled. If we are to be as them, we must comprehend the fact that everything is exactly as it seems. There is no forth dimension, nor is there a spiritual plain. These lies were brought upon by people who were not properly leveled with a social collective. We must behave in the same way reality does. The reason we call the physical plain 'reality' is because it is forever consistent. The world is nothing more than a black and white picture. Humanity must do as the physical plain does. It must no longer exist for concepts like value, and must instead, thrive on nature itself. In essence, Lilly Satou. What I say to you now is that if humanity was to simply stop trying to achieve useless goals or becoming wealthier and wealthier. If humanity would stop caring, utopia would be born."

Lilly looked up once more after realizing that Hisao was finished with his explanation. "So, there is nothing to achieve because there is no such concept of universal value. Since there is no such thing as value, we must enforce the truth by ensure all men of the earth are leveled with each other, thus destroying individuality."

"Correct," Hisao replied. "Now tell me, Lilly. What have you learned so far?"

"I've learned that the physical realm was created from nothing. We too came from nothing and will return to nothing. The physical plain is just disruption in an empty void. There is no god that created us, if there was, life would be toyed with and even more meaningless than it already is. I've learned that, by your opinion, the weak people of the earth are en evolutionary mistake and must be wiped out. Only then can the evolutionary process continue. I have also learned that there is no such thing as subjective ideals. Value is a subjective concept which does not exist. In order for humanity to become a species of rational and objective creatures, we must be leveled to prevent irrational thought from being conceived."

"That is a good summary," Hisao complemented. He then stood up on the table and turned towards the large window behind himself. "Well there is nothing more I need to teach you. Goodbye Lilly. I enjoyed my time with you while it lasted."

Lilly took a step forward with aggravation. "Wait! If all of this is true then why do I exist? What is the point in there being a physical plain!?"

"There is no point to the physical plain and you exist for no reason at all," Hisao retorted. "Goodbye."

"You can't just leave me here," Lilly argued. "Tell me what's going on!"

"You will never know," Hisao muttered before he allowed himself to fall towards the window. The weight from his body caused the window to shatter and he simply fell forward down to the earth below. Lilly heard the glass break and immediately widened here eyes in a panic.

"Hisao? Hisao! Where did you go?"

Lilly groaned to herself as he realized Hisao had left her. She lowered her head yet again in a defeated manner. She was beginning to feel absolutely helpless. She walked up to the location where Hisao was previously located at. She felt the table and soon bumped into a chair near the table. She took a seat and relaxed herself before she placed her cane on the table and laid her head down tiredly.

"Now, what do I do," she inquired aloud, regardless of the fact that there was no one around to answer her oppressive question. She allowed herself to close her eyes as if she were about to doze off. "I finally understand what they're saying but now what. And why did Hisao say this would be the last time we would meet? I need to get back to the Antipodes. Surely I'll find a way to locate him from there now that I know their ideology."

* * *

With that, Lilly fell into a light sleep. She was completely exhausted from running around constantly all day. She did not move from that spot for around two hours before she would awake once more. She felt her body covered in something. She was covered in what felt, and smelt like flowers. Lilly's senses would not have failed her, for she was covered in flowers.

Indeed, Lilly woke up to find herself in a grave dug in the earth of the Antipodes. It was six feet deep and six feet wide. Everything about this grave was what was to be expected accept for one detail. Instead of Lilly being covered in thick layer of dirt, she was quite literally buried in flowers. Specifically, she was covered in a mound of white lilies. She could hear maggots chewing behind the dirt walls of her grave, eager to get at her flesh.

"What's going on," Lilly asked herself. Even without her sight, she could easily figure out what was going on when she fell a root under her left hand. "I'm in a grave," Lilly continued in surprise. It was easy for her to breath since she was only covered in six feet of flowers, there were spaces where oxygen was still seeping in. "I don't understand."

"Yes you do," a strangely familiar voice questioned. Lilly almost instantaneously recognized the voice even if she only heard it one time in her life.

Lilly noticed that he voice was coming from above ground, to her left. "Pacific," she stated. "What's going on?"

"Are you finally ready to release yourself from this meaningless existence," Pacific's voice inquired from above. "Do you pride your life? Was it satisfactory to you? Do you believe you were a worthwhile person who contributed something to our society? Or did your blindness give you the excuse to contribute nothing?"

Lilly wanted to jump and bash Pacific over the head with her cane until he took her to Hisao, but for some strange reason, she was too relaxed here in this odd grave. Her body refused to cooperate as she tried to stand up out of the flowers. She attempted to move but her limbs would not. She truly did not want to leave her grave, knowing that eternal rest and an easy way out of such this miserable world she was trapped in, was just right around the corner.

She finally spoke out after a few moments of silence. "No," Lilly exclaimed through the flowers. "I'm not ready to die. Not yet. There is much more I need to do. I still must learn about Hisao's ideals. I still need to figure out what this place is. I am not satisfied with my life at the moment. Let me continue my search, I have no need for this serenity yet!"

"What will you gain out of this," Pacific questioned in an irritated tone of voice. He stood there above the grave of flowers. He stood just on the edge of the right side, nearest to a tombstone with Lilly's name and birthday on it. "What is the point. You know it all now. We believe in nothing more than what we physically see, and denounce all subjective thought processes. It's time for you to to go to sleep. So, I'll ask you once again. Are you enlightened? Are you ready to die a peaceful death, or do you want to suffer out here in the cold for a few more hours?"

"I'm not enlightened," Lilly retorted. "I'm not ready to die a peaceful death. I am ready to suffer for no reason at all now. I'm not going to fall into an eternal dream just yet. But I will when I myself am ready."

It took a few minutes for Pacific to say anything in return. He thought for a moment that he should shift the topic for just a split second to see if Lilly could answer one of his questions for a change. "Tell me, Lilly Satou. Do you know who I am? Who you perceive me as. Here's a small, but actuality, a monolithic hint. I am of your past. I am the projection of that which has abandoned you. Of that which has forsaken you. It is I, Pacific. The one who taught you many things a long time ago, yet I only did so because I took pity on the girl with the defective eyes. Although, she was blind, not physically, but mentally as well. For she did not seem to comprehend such a thing. To this very date, you resent me. You have created me as a projection of your own disdain for someone of old. Now tell me, Lilly Satou. Do you know who I am!?"

"No," Lilly shouted in frustration.

Pacific abruptly covered his mouth with his right hand. "Satou," he muttered with anger in his tone of voice. "I am a symbol of all the things I have listed and more. Can you see now why I hate you. You are responsible for my existence. I am merely a symbol for your consciousness to defend itself, yet I will tolerate this not! You hide behind illusions such as yourself. You truly are a weakling as well, yet you refuse to portray yourself as such. Now, I am here to act as illustration of that which you resent for being denied. I understand why you were rejected. You're nothing more than perverted shrew. I think that my name was mixed up with the designation of a friend of mine," Pacific explained in a calmer tone. "I think I should have been named Hatred, to symbolize how much I despise leeches such as yourself. So, was that enough of a hint? Surely you've figured it out by now, it isn't rocket science so I'll ask you one more time. _Do you know who I am!?_"

"No," Lilly muttered.

Pacific waited for Lilly's response but none came his way. Eventually, he turned away from the grave and shoved his hands in the pockets of his black pants. "You disappoint me. You had the chance for a warm and serene death, yet you deprive yourself of such a fate. To think that I was about to help a scoundrel such as yourself take an easy route out. Regardless, if you step out of that grave, I'm going to make you suffer. I hope you know that it rare for death to come for someone so quietly and painlessly. I just thought I should warn you is all."

"So be it," Lilly replied with a challenging tone of voice. "Make me suffer. But only after I have made proper use of my time here in this strange place. I merely wish my time on earth could have been longer before you zapped Hisao and I here. So please, make me suffer. Just hope that I don't find away to make you feel the same pain in the process, Mr. Pacific."

The skeleton then rolled his metaphorical eyes at Lilly's words and walked away. Lilly listened to his footsteps until she could hear him no longer. She then grabbed a hold of her cane with her left hand and forcefully sat up amidst the flowers. Lilly pushed herself into a standing position with the help of her cane. Thankfully she was tall enough just to force her head out of the mound of flowers. She then pushed both of her hands to the surface as well and looked up to the sky.

"Why am I here if there is no point in anything. Why was I created from nothing when the odds of me specifically existing are so slim. I suppose someone had to be birthed from my parent's act of procreation, but why me. And if I must exist, then where am I!? What sort of maze have I been thrown into!? This can't be the physical realm. It simply can't! This must be a new place, but where am I!? That is my last question. To the people who want me to finally pass from this world and never take another living breath again. I implore you, nay I beseech of thee. Just tell me where I am! Tell me where here is! If my question is answered, then I will go quietly. I promise. But please, satisfy my curiosity with one more answer. Am I dead!? Am I dreaming!? Am I in coma!? Please tell me. So that I may find what little solace remains in this place. Give me peace of mind."

* * *

It would be an hour or so later, but Lilly would find herself sitting on a cliff down by the water. The temperature had dropped dramatically just when Lilly was finally getting use to the environment. Of course by 'getting use' to the Antipodes, this just meant most of her body had grown numb. In fact, a very disturbing case of numbness was present on her left hand, yet she has failed to notice this. Her pinky and ring finger on the left hand were experiencing the worst of this. In fact, they appeared to be undergoing a severe case of frostbite. The number one thing Lilly was fearing out here in the cold.

She sat there, staring off into space while the cold quite literally assaulted her left hand. Both of these fingers had turned to a blood red color which was very odd. Usually, it took a few days for frostbite to reach this stage if it were a normal case. However, Lilly did not seem to be suffering from an average case of frostbite. It would appear that she was unfortunately experiencing forth degree freezing of the tissues in her hand. If she did not amputate these appendages soon, or if they would not fall off on there own, young Lilly would end up dead, due to some horrid infection.

Lilly at least noticed that she could not move either of these two fingers, but she did not care at this point. She spoke with Hisao at least, which gave her a refreshing boost of confidence in this increasingly depressing world. Lilly was on the verge of jumping off one of these cliffs up until now. Regardless of the fact that Hisao was most certainly not very helpful, nor was he very polite when they last met, she was still relieved to hear his voice. Now, the only thing left was to find him, and figure out where she currently was. Then, she would hopefully be able to figure out a way to return home.

It was clear that Lilly still vigorously held on to her goals which she had created when she was first throw into this swirling pit of mania. She at least had a goal which was more than what anyone could say for Hisao. Lilly was currently wondering about Hisao. She knew what her plan was, to find Hisao and drag him out of this insane place, but what was his purpose for being here? Why was he so perfectly fine with staying here? Why was he acting so strangely? How long has he been communicating with Pacific prior to this event? And finally, how long have they truly been trapped in this incoherent world? These were the questions Lilly could ask herself a hundred times in a row, yet she would never find the answer. She has failed to realize that she is solely responsible for this place, but she would figure this out in dear time. Hopefully.

Lilly was far too deep in her thoughts to acknowledge the fact that two familiar skeletons were standing a few yards behind her. Rationalism and Ableism were both watching her from afar. Rationalism was dead quiet while Ableism was snickering to himself out of his own pleasure.

"Why do these people want me to know all of these ideals," Lilly abruptly shouted out to the sea, still not realizing that she was in the presence of two more individuals.

"_Because_," Rationalism said aloud which caused Lilly to quickly turn around. "We both love you, and we hate you."

"I just hate you," Ableism giggled.

"Rationalism," Lilly questioned after processing the sound of his voice. "Is that you? Is Hisao with you as well?"

"So long, Lilly Satou," Rationalism replied as he backed away from her. "We'll meet one more time, very soon. Adieu."

He then turned around and promptly walked away. Ableism continued to chortle at the sight of Lilly's depressed expression for a few more seconds before he too followed Rationalism back inland from whence they came.


	7. Art

**Art**

Deep underneath the Antipodes islands was a beautiful theater house which was lit up by crystal stalactites which reflected and evenly distributed the artificial light on the ceiling throughout the room. Surprisingly, the theater was rather quiet at this point in time. Everyone was here but they were all backstage except for Hisao who was sitting in that same row of comfortable seats he enjoyed so much. The twisted little smile on his face faded away as he heard the crackling of bones walking up behind him.

He glanced over his shoulder, he immediately recognized two of the three skeletons walking up to him. The first one on the right hand side was Ableism while the skeleton towards the left was Rationalism. In between the two of them however, was a skeleton who wore a classical suit similar to what the other dead men had on. The one detail that was different about this skeleton besides the fact that he was slightly taller than the others, was that his bones were colored a deep red rather than bleached white. It was one of the same skeletons Lilly encountered at one point when Hisao changed his behavior drastically, yet she was unaware of the red skeleton.

"_Defect_," Ableism greeted with a roll of his metaphorical eyes. "Stand yourself up and meet an entity which is truly better than you by all definitions of the word. A superior mind which is not held back by shameful abnormalities for he is perfect like the Aryan breed. Stand up and meet him with respect in the tone of thy voice, and honesty visible in your eyes," Ableism ordered. Hisao did not react to this other than obediently standing up in silence.

He then promptly headed over to three skeletons. They all came to a stop, meeting each other halfway. Hisao almost bowed in the traditional Japanese style before he remembered that these skeletons were of a western mindset, and were often insulted by those foreign gestures. Hisao quickly held out his hand towards the mysterious red skeleton who in turn shook it and gave him a silent nod of approval.

"Uh," Rationalism swiftly stepped in as he realized someone needed to introduce these two individuals who were strangers to each other. "Hisao, this is Epicurus. You might recall us speaking about him. I know I created these ideals but if it were not for Epicurus we would not have been enlightened to the truth greatness of nihilism." Rationalism then turned to face Epicurus and gestured towards Hisao. "This is my first test subject which I was gloating about earlier," Rationalism informed. "He is weaker than us and has volunteered his life for the common good of destroying human weakness once and for all."

"I respect that," Epicurus announced in a stern tone of voice. "Forgive me, Hisao, but I am not here to see you. Pacific," he abruptly called out and continued walking forward, straight past Hisao who took a step out of the way on impulse. "Pacific, come out and tell me what just what you think you're doing with my ideology! Come out and face me, you scoundrel!"

It did not take but a second for Pacific to practically throw the red curtains out of his way as he stepped out onto the stage from the back area of the theater as if he were an actor in a play. "Is there a problem," Pacific questioned harshly. "I cannot fathom anything being wrong or at least when concerning me. You on the other hand, and Rationalism," he stated as he pointed to the skeleton in question who was still standing behind Epicurus. "That's a different story. So enlighten me! Tell me what I've done to evoke your wrath! I'm all ears! I want to know what's so wrong with my beautiful works of art when the term 'wrong' doesn't mean anything in the objective world!"

"Why do you insist on such radical behavior," Epicurus questioned in a calm yet firm tone of voice. He most certainly was not happy with the situation but he was not as angry as Pacific at the moment. "Why can you not see things the way the rest of us do? You claim to follow our ideals yet you act in a completely different way. A true nihilist does not care enough about humanity to try and change it, especially not as drastically as you are attempting to do. So, tell me the uncensored truth. What are you really trying to achieve by all of this?"

Pacific tilted his skull to the left in a teasing manner to help prove his sarcastic point. "I wonder what on earth I could be up too," Pacific thought in a mocking tone of voice. "Oh, I remember! I'm doing what all of you want from humanity! All you and Rationalism do is complain about the state of the world, and how if it was a nihilistic world it would be so much better. I agree with you for it is the truth. However, I do not agree that sitting by and complaining is the route to take! I demand action! I demand promotion of our ideals! Keep in mind Epicurus that this is my world you've walked into. This theater, my followers, Hisao being one of them, are all here because of me! Unlike you, I am going to rip this world apart and rebuild it in a greater image! You see, I've begun to understand the physical plane far more than any of you could have ever have fathomed it," Pacific exclaimed.

"This world, this universe came from nothing. It is nothing more than a rift in a blank frequency! However, I've learned that this is not entirely true, for it is I who created this place. I see everything from my own vantage point and not from yours. Therefore, you are two-dimensional in a certain respect! I am the only conscious entity on the planet where as you are nothing more than a hallucination to keep me from growing bored! This world can only be seen through my eyes! I cannot see any other vantage point which only means that no other point of view exists. It's all my subjective thought! This is my world! If you find a truth, it is merely what I believe to be true, therefore it is fact. You are all exactly the same as characters in a dream. The dreamer will ask you if he is dreaming yet you lie to him because you don't want him to wake up! Well, I am sorry to tell you but I am completely awake."

"Subjectivity is the enemy of our ideals," Epicurus proclaimed flatly. "For it is the mother of morality, faith, and other irrational concepts which prevent the human psyche from evolving with the body. The cells die and are replaced with superior ones because the body is rational yet the average mind is not because it is filled with lies such as subjectivity. We have preached against subjectivity and wish to replace it with total objectivity. You claim to be enlightened yet you promote the concept of this reality being completely based on your subjective view point when reality is universal and everything is exactly as it seems. The physical realm is not intelligent enough to be anything more than what we can blatantly see yet you claim to be all defining in what we see. This is egoism, ignorance, and the obvious sign of subjectivity at its finest."

"To say that I am being subjective," Pacific explained. "Is to deny that oneself is not being subjective in the process. By your opinion, I am being subjective but by my opinion, I am merely being rational and completely objective to the situations at hand. You on the other hand are allowing subjective opinions to dictate your observations. It is clear to me now more than ever and I am serious when I say that I no longer have use for either you nor Rationalism. Both of you have failed to defend the ideologies you concocted together. I on the other hand am a revolutionary. It creates a perfect parallel with Karl Marx's relationship to communism. He was no revolutionary but Lenin was. I am Lenin and you are Karl Marx, while Rationalism, you are Friedrich Engels. You create the ideology which I utilize to overthrow the powers at be. You were very important at one time, the both of you that is. However, neither of you two are of any importance anymore. It is time you both held true to your historical counterparts and disappear while I overshadow you with a brilliant revolution against the people who wish to harm our ideals."

Epicurus did not seem convinced at all by what Pacific was getting at. Not only has he completely thrown both he and Rationalism out of the loop which they created, but he was now reinterpreting the words of Epicurus himself. "Very well. I will give you one little warning, Pacific," Epicurus claimed which appeared to capture Pacific's attention quite quickly. "Don't allow your new found ego to ruin what we have built. Do not build a set of wings out of wax and feathers. Do not use these wings to fly. However, if you do these things then you had better make sure you do not plan to head towards the sun. I offer you this warning knowing that you will fail to heed it. When you see the majesty of the sky, you will fly directly towards the sun. Your wings will melt and burn. You in turn, will be thrown back to the ground from whence you came, burning as you plummet back to the earth."

Before anyone could respond to this unexpected twist in his monologue, Epicurus silently turned around. He appeared to have already given up on Pacific. Epicurus walked straight past Hisao and even Rationalism without uttering a word. Pacific in turn did not say anything either. He merely allowed Epicurus to leave, since there was clearly nothing left for him here anymore. As Pacific had previously said, even though it was a hyperbole to say the world belonged to him, this theater definitely belonged to him. Soon, Epicurus completely left the theater which left Rationalism, Ableism, and Hisao all alone with Pacific.

"Now," Pacific said with a sigh as he averted his attention towards Rationalism. "I'm sorry you have to find out this way but you are indeed no longer needed here. I already know why Ableism is here but why are you here, Rationalism? Oh," he reminded himself as he caught a glimpse of Hisao standing in the background. "Are you here for you test subject. Hisao, your time is now up. A contract is a contract even if Rationalism and I are no longer working together. It's high time you finally forfeit that heart of yours to a better cause."

"Ah," Hisao stated quietly. A soft and almost melancholy grin took form on his face. "Is it that time already? Is it finally time for me to die and meet eternal serenity? At long last, will I be free from the curse of my own weakness? In turn, will humanity be able to evolve?"

"Yes, Hisao," Rationalism nodded. "You will leave this world and in turn, your slot in the world will be open for a healthy human to take your place. A strong man will take the place of you and will compensate for your past weakness." Rationalism then reached into the right hand pocket of his suit's coat and pulled out a rather sharp knife. "It is time for you to leave this world. I will begin research on your heart with the help of my dear friend, Science. We will alter your heart to the best of our capabilities before it finally decays like you will have already done. We probably will find nothing on this first attempt but it will be a step in the right direction, Hisao. Your death will not be in vain, I can safely promise you that."

Hisao quietly nodded his head in submission. "Very well. I was created from nothing. In the eyes of nothing, I am valueless because the all seeing void is completely unbiased. How can it be biased when it cannot think to begin with? But I in the twilight of life, I find myself worried that there will be no meaning in my death if it does not solve anything. I give you my heart to solve the problem of weak human beings."

"Did you just say you want to find meaning in death," asked Rationalism in a stern yet slightly astounded tone. "I was under the assumption that you had finally detached yourself from the myths of humanity, from the lies that plague your species."

A small smile became visible on Hisao's face once more after this was said. "Can I be blamed for wanting these lies to no longer be lies? I, just as anyone else, would prefer not to die in vain. I must request a meaningful death."

"Hisao Nakai," Pacific interrupted from behind which naturally caused he, Rationalism, and Ableism to turn back towards the stage. "You act as if we already do not possess a cure for the weakness of this world, yet we do and we always have. The weak can never compete with the strong for they simply lack the capabilities for whatever reason. Weakness is indeed a problem for humanity but it can be dealt with quiet easily. The cure for this illness is simple. No longer must we accept that others are weak. We merely have to destroy them for the sake of evolution. Not only will our ideals cause you, the weaklings of the world to kill yourselves off because you cannot survive without the lies you have spread to protect yourselves, but they will help evolve the minds of the strong. We will begin to think rationally. We will nevermore have use for stupid thought processes such as faith and subjective belief because we will already know the answer. The answer to all questions is that if you do not know the answer, then it is because there either is no answer, or there is no point in hunting down the answer. You see, Hisao, we already know everything. Now, we simply have to inform the strong and greater humans of these truths. From there we can break away from the subhumans who infest our world. However, it will all start with you Hisao. You are disabled, therefore, you are weak and a lesser human being. By killing you, we send out a message that we are prepared to accept the 'inhumane' actions required to evolve. Now submit Nakai, and do your part in bettering humanity. Sacrifice is key, you are that key."

Hisao did not argue with the words of Pacific, nor did he see any reason to argue for his own life at this point in time when he knew how right the skeletons were. He held up his hands in consent and bowed his head, looking down to his feet he could not think of a proper reply. He remained silent for a few moments and allowed himself a second to admire himself as he is now before he is to be returned to the singular point of origin from whence all things are born.

"Very well," Hisao sighed at long last. He was contempt with leaving this world now. He was pleased with the fact that his death will be a symbol to the rising dominance of the true ideology. He also was most certainly not willing to go back on his word when his own signature was legally filled out on Pacific's contract. With nothing left to say other than clarifying that he agrees with the current situation, he turned back to the skeleton of whom he owes his heart to for the purposes of science. "Rationalism, you may claim what has been given to you, but before we leave, I know I've already seen Lilly once but I would at least like to visit her one more time. If there is no time then don't worry about such insignificant things, but if we do have time then I would indeed enjoy stopping by and visiting Lilly on the way to my sacrifice."

"Of course, there is time," Rationalism stated eagerly. He was at least satisfied that Hisao still had consideration for Lilly even if he no longer could see any value in her nor anything else on this earth for that matter since there technically was none to begin with. "Night has befallen the Antipodes. I'd imagine she is sleeping at the moment, but we could wake her."

"There's no point in doing so," Hisao disclaimed casually. "I have no desire to speak with her. I only want to see her, nothing more."

Pacific could no longer hold his metaphorical tongue as he heard Hisao speaking. "Typical," Pacific finally interjected. Hisao looked back over his shoulder towards the stage as this was said. "When one is faced with the eve of destruction, a means to an end of their world, and in turn, the end of their own perception of the physical realm; that which is on the verge of reaching serenity will resort to irrational thoughts even if they are of a rational mind. Why must rationality be sacrificed by the weak, yet the strong thrive on such objects. It is simply because the two creatures are not amongst the same species. The weak are more along the anatomy of a cockroach while the strong are in between the forms of men and Aryans. The weak was a shell from which man broke away from during the days of natural evolution. Once we discard these remaining pieces of shell from our bodies such as you, Hisao, we will then take another step in evolution. Humanity will be of men rather than animals. Soon, they will become Aryans. They will be beautiful and flawless in body, and will have perfect minds. Goodbye, Hisao Nakai. We thank you for your acknowledgments of these truths, and your noble sacrifice for the good of evolution."

Hisao said nothing in return. He merely nodded his head and turned away from the stage before silently walking off towards the exit. Rationalism soon followed him up to the exit while Ableism did not move even one of his bones. Once the two left the room entirely, Ableism giggled to himself and shoved his hands in the pockets of his jacket. He then moved over towards the seat Hisao was previously sitting in, and claimed it for himself.

"What is that you find so comical," asked Pacific.

Ableism quickly eradicated his snickering and looked up to the stage. He threw his left arm over the back of his seat in relaxation. "Oh," Ableism began in a tone which almost seemed to be slightly dismissive of Pacific's inquiries. "I just could not help but find it pleasuring to hear that another disgusting human with pitiful disabilities was finally dying. They are an insult to the rest of us. I find pleasure in the thought that all of these defects will get what's coming to them. The greatest sin is the existence of a creature who acts as a parasite living off of the able bodied people of a society. The creatures who in turn, can only be considered subhuman. In short, I find pleasure in that freak's death."

The skeleton in the audience then groaned to himself and covered his face with his hand in visible irritation. "The disabled annoy me. They disgust me. They dismiss me for the sake of their own lives when I speak nothing more than linear and rational ideals. The fact that these subhumans are not killed for sport rather than necessity annoys me. I also find it oh so amusing when they finally do experience the consequence for being so weak. However, at least Hisao was not placed in such a high rank in society as Lilly Satou was. I look forward to her death and I hope it is most brutal. The fact that a blind woman is allowed grotesque wealth and a bourgeois life style is more sicking than a lack in evolution in my honest opinion. Someone so weak as her does not deserve such a fine life nor does she deserve a life at all. Her niche in society is clear. She is blind, therefore she will never exist on the same level of success as a person who can see. The fact that she is born into a wealthy family which creates the scenario that a blind woman makes more money than a person who can see, proves that there is no god. It is an insult as well. It is an insult to a deeply applied injury. I remain appalled by such an anomaly and look forward to her death. I will indeed take plenty of pleasure from seeing her finally pass away."

* * *

Hisao and Rationalism quickly found themselves walking along a cliff side on the freezing Antipodes. Water could be heard crashing against the rocks towards the bottom of the cliff, but they are currently no where near as violent as the wore a few hours prior to this very moment. The winds have seemed to have died down slightly as well. Hisao could see no difference because he was sitting inside a comfortable theater underground, but for Lilly, it was a blessing from a deity which exists only in the minds of the weak. Lilly herself was sleeping on the ground twenty yards ahead of Hisao and Rationalism who were currently walking up to her. Hisao appeared to have a yellow blanket in hand, although it was unclear what he planned on doing with it.

The two soon came to a stop after they arrived just a foot away from Lilly. She was visibly shivering on the ground but she had at least managed to fall asleep after the wind died down ever so slightly. It must have been such a relief for her even though the winds were still rather brutal, and the temperature did dropped due to night's presence over the islands. Hisao's expression as he stared down at Lilly was surprisingly cynical. He noticed that his possibly former girlfriend held her cane tightly as she slept. This was a rather surprising thing for Hisao to see considering he threw the cane out into the ocean near South Bay just to make the experience not only more challenging, but to destroy any chances of her actually surviving such a cold place without the closest thing she had to eyesight.

Without a word to announce his upcoming action, Hisao leaned forward and threw the blanket over Lilly. He probably would not have been so generous were it not for the fact that his death now loomed around the corner. He knew she had plans to see him once more after she found the opera house underground. Hisao could also imagine a little fantasy she must have where she retrieves him and finds a way back to the normal plane of existence from whence she came. Hisao however, was too smart to believe that this would actually end up being the case. The only thing left was for Lilly to figure this out on her own accord.

He then stood upright and turned to face Rationalism. "Well, it's time to leave," Hisao announced quietly as he did not want to wake Lilly. He did not want to give her the satisfaction of hearing his voice anymore, nor would she ever have such a privilege. "It will only be a matter of time before the elements claim her, or she kills herself, or you take her eyes as was agreed upon in the contract of yours and Pacific's writing."

Rationalism said nothing, but rather, he allowed for the events about to take place to speak for him. While Hisao seemed unfazed, he was quite surprised to see the entire world around him fade away and be replaced by a black void. There was not a noise nor a drop of light present in this empty void of darkness. The only two objects which took up physical space in this alternate universe would be Hisao and the skeleton called Rationalism. Hisao looked around instinctively, scanning the area for any signs of movement, but he suddenly shifted his eyes downward as he noticed a strange light just under his feet.

"This way," Rationalism stated aloud which naturally caused Hisao to turn back towards him. He tilted his head as he noticed a wooden door just behind Rationalism. This was probably the last door he would ever walk through and Hisao found himself feeling surprisingly nostalgic for the memory of every door he had come across in his day. Rationalism beckoned once more for Hisao to follow him after he noticed that the young man was taking much longer than he truly should be. "Come along now, Hisao. There is no more time for us to waste. I need to begin my research and the first step will be claiming your beating heart. After I rip it out of your chest I will immediately begin experimenting on it until I have either produced the results I require, or I will destroy your heart in the process. Regardless, your sacrifice will be in the name of a greater cause. However, we cannot be sitting here forever. It's time to step through the door Hisao," Rationalism claimed in a darker tone as he slowly reached in to his pocket and pulled out a sharp knife with a rather shiny pearl handle. "It's time for you to say goodbye."

Hisao gave Rationalism a quick nod. With that gesture out of the way, Rationalism stepped aside and promptly pushed the door open with his left hand. The door calmly swung open which caused a wave of light to flood out into the black void. Due to the brightness of the light, Hisao could not see what was actually inside the room from his current vantage point. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants and began walking forward towards the light. He slowly passed the skeleton by and stepped inside the door. Thankfully, his eyes immediately adjusted to the light and he was able to see clearly what type of building he was in.

It was a beautiful chapel. Stain glass windows lined the walls and featured colorful depictions of Christ and the twelve saints of Catholicism. Rows and rows of wooden seats were positioned on either side of Hisao as he continued to walk down the small aisle in between them. He came to a stop in the center of the room where his eyes rested upon a stage which marked the position of a podium where a large bible was laid upon. Behind the podium was an elaborate alter. Strangely enough, this alter was not set up to worship any actual deity in Catholicism, but an enormous picture of the red skeleton which Hisao had come to know as Epicurus was present on the alter. This was a very strange church, indeed. Sunlight glistened down from the stain glass windows and lit up the church interior very well. Hisao noticed this just as he turned around to face Rationalism who was now approaching him with the knife.

Without the need for instruction, Hisao knelt down on one knee and held his arms out as if he were waiting to receive a divine gift from the heavens. "If there was a world, a place beyond this one. I promise I would be praying at this moment. However, I am enlightened to the point where I have no need for such things. I remain detached from the physical plane, for I know it is not eternal, but the unconscious void is forever. In this world, there is no reason to attempt anything at all which is beyond basic necessity in the name of survival. One cannot achieve anything for there is no point in trying. One cannot experience an other worldly presence for we are the only living creatures in the material realm. If there was a plane beyond this one, a world in which there was something sacred, it would be fictitious and deceitful. I know permit thee, oh symbol of rational thought! Kill me and utilize my body as a resource for speeding up evolution. I die with a joyful heart, proud that I will no longer be a burden to humanity's progress."

"Very well," Rationalism said with a deep breath as he rose the blade height above his head and swiftly brought it down upon Hisao. The blade cut through the top area in the right side of his chest, just underneath his neck and quickly pierced his ribcage. Hisao flinched and gritted his teeth at the unbearable pain as the blade sliced through his aorta. He felt pains in his chest which were similar to the problems caused by arrhythmia. It would make since that his heart would act up as it was literally being cut out of his chest. Rationalism then moved the blade around in a circle, cutting the heart free from the veins which kept it in place. Soon the heart was completely free. The layer of bone, muscle, and skin covering Hisao's heart fell off of his body.

In response to this, Rationalism dropped the knife and quickly reached into Hisao's chest. Rationalism then reached into the hole in his chest and quickly pulled the heart out of his body. Hisao would soon die, due to the amount of blood spilling out of him, it would be very soon. Rationalism ignored this factor and with both hands, he held the bloody organ up towards the heavens above him. The sun rays from outside helped to illuminate it in a heavenly manner. "I giveth to the world," Rationalism declared softly. "Reason, science and education. Woe to he who denies the aspects of the present age."

As Rationalism said this, Hisao fell backwards onto the cold wood of the church floor. He let out a painful smile as darkness closed in on him from all sides. He could no longer breath due to some cuts in his lungs. He could feel his body growing numb and useless. A white buzzing noise enveloped his ears for a few seconds before the purist form of silence swept him away. It was so soothing. Never once could someone actually experience true silence since there was always some ambient background noise to be heard on this earth. Now, Hisao was being lulled to an eternal sleep by the unyielding silence. As his breaths grew shorter and more difficult to draw as a result of his injured lungs, Hisao managed to say one more thing.

"So this is what it is like. I always wondered what it would feel like to never wake up from a deep sleep. I'll soon find out, for I have been thrown into a very similar realm to Dante's ninth annex of Hell." That was all he could muster. Hisao's last words were said. His vision finally faded away and his thoughts trailed off into oblivion.


	8. Moth

**Moth**

Hisao and Lilly walked down a busy street in the city neighboring their little school. Cars passed them by as they continued down the sidewalk at a slow pace to compensate for Lilly's incapability to keep up with the rest of the world. The world which had the strength to see what was in front of them.

With a blissful look on Lilly's face to match her ignorant mentality, which was completely contradictory to Hisao's sour and bitter expression. He tolerated her attached to his arm like a leech no longer. He watched as people with perfect eyesight, not impaired by blindness or the blindness of a girlfriend to linger and orbit around them, hindering their progress by every pointless step. His mind could not cooperate with his meaningless emotions any longer. One or another had to be discarded if the synapses in his brain could continue on without vanity.

Lilly allowed these thoughts to enter the mind of her friend without any knowledge that they were even present. She was blind in more ways than the physical definition would explain. She could not since the sourness in his voice when he stated the phrase, "Hold on. We need to cross the road." Lilly only did as told. Her serene expression fell short and she opened her eyes as she forced herself to come to a stop just as Hisao did. The two then turned to face the road to their right.

Hisao scanned the area. The light turned red, clearly signaling for pedestrians to remain on their little sanctuary at the side of the road. Hisao was at first, contempt with conforming to the red signal created from a series of light bulbs in the post just next to him. He allowed his vision to blur just to perceive the red light in a more entertaining way for the sake of passing time. As he kept his vision blurry in an attempt to see something difference for once in his miserable existence, he could not help but refocus said vision when he noticed the entire world around him seemed to abruptly freeze in place.

Naturally, Hisao was shocked by seeing such a thing. He quickly shifted his eyes from one area to the next and realized no longer was he standing in that busy city with Lilly. He even looked towards Lilly who was also frozen and immediately noticed that the person he was holding onto was not his blonde haired friend. Instead, he was standing next to, and holding tightly the arm of a wooden mannequin who stood just as tall as Lilly. It also appeared to have a feminine form but that was where the resemblance between the two ended.

Hisao looked back towards the street and surely enough, the environment around him had shifted within the blink of eye from a lively city to a small ghost town. The town was very westernized and looked to have almost a 20th century American aesthetic. Two to three story homes replaced the line of skyscrapers ahead of Hisao just as well as behind him. These homes was presumably owned by a middle class family since they had multiple levels and were rather well kept. Each house was white with a black roof which contrasted greatly against the crystal clear blue sky above.

Clouds soared overhead in the most serene way imaginable. Never once had Hisao been given the pleasure of experiencing such a silence as what he was hearing now. Not a single leaf fell from the tree nearby. The motionlessness of the town left a hollow feeling in Hisao's stomach. The industrial black road he was use to seeing by this point had been replaced by a casual avenue. There was now only one car on the road in front of him, but it was not moving. Indeed, the car was sitting stationary in the middle of the road with a lonely mannequin sitting inside it. This mannequin was wearing a classical suit and hat, however, it was still lifeless and motionless all at the same time.

Hisao breathed in the air as he listened to the sound of nothingness. He turned to his left to see two mannequins sitting at a table in an outdoor restaurant just behind him. He then shifted his gaze back to the house in front of him. The house was separated from the rest of the town by a picket fence painted a mute white color. In fact, all of the colors in this new found world were very expressionless and flat. However, Hisao did not worry about this as he kept his eyes on what looked to him like a family of mannequins playing in the front yard. The mother of the house, a wooden figure wearing an apron was standing inside, watching her children play out the window.

The man of the house could be seen in a window on the opposite side of the building reading a newspaper in the study area. Hisao quickly lost interest in him and looked towards the children in the yard. They were small mannequins frozen in time right before his very eyes as if he were watching a movie and simply pressed the 'pause' button. Hisao felt his stomach turn as he watched them forever remain in the same position they had always been in. Are they nothing more than a reflection of he himself? To them, there is nothing holy nor anything to pride. They exist only to live in the very moment they were created to illustrate. They in turn, illustrated a better time. Their own world is colored not by their opinions, but by what they can blatantly see in front of them and they believe nothing for belief is faith, and faith is a concept for the irrational.

"If there was a place," a voice whispered from behind. "A place in which your dreams could be achieved, you would already have been done so. What is the point when you would not have been the first to achieve such a dream? To become a scientist. You are no Galileo Galilei, nor is your name Sir Isaac Newton. You did not discover evolution, nor were you the first to comprehend the laws of physics," the voice continued. Hisao refused to turn around but he planned on doing so when the increasingly familiar voice was finished speaking to him.

"With all of this knowledge and understanding, I ask you, Hisao. What is your purpose when attempting to enter such a field, when you will never be compared to the great men aforesaid? Are you so egotistical you think you will be able to actually achieve new knowledge for your fellow man, or are you merely attempting to produce a farce out of the art which is science."

Hisao finally turned around to see who was degrading him in such a manner, no matter how true the voice's words were. He was not surprised to see a certain skeleton named Pacific standing behind him. Hisao did not seem angered by the previous yet bitter words, for he knew not a one of them was meant to be an insult, but an overwhelming truth which he could not deny. "I seek not such prideful goals, only a means of survival in the future which cometh without mercy."

"I show you the meaning the person next to you holds on a universal level," Pacific exclaimed to the heavens! Demonstrate your enlightenment. That woman is a body without a mind capable of properly processing her five senses. She is absolutely useless to society and needs to be put down. Euthanize her in the name of evolution!"

* * *

Hisao woke up from his daydream as he heard Lilly snapping her fingers in front of his face. Hisao frantically searched the area and realized that he had been returned to the place he was before, the city filled with people who were actually alive, if one could call those people living in the first place of course. Hisao then looked towards Lilly who stared at him with concern. He could not figure out why she was even looking at him? It is not like her eyes are of any use? What right has she to act as if she is not lacking in the arena of vision?

"Wake up," Lilly requested. "Hello? Hisao, are you alright?"

"Quiet down," Hisao ordered and moved her hand away from his face. "I'm fine," he sighed in slight annoyance with her. Lilly almost immediately sensed the emotion behind his voice and backed down. She narrowed her useless little eyes at him out of curiosity. She could not figure out why Hisao was acting so strangely today of all days.

She was under the assumption that they were having a high old time out and about in the city today. The sky was of a deep gray due to the rain clouds above but the water inside them refused to release itself on the city. This allowed for the perfect temperature to consume the surrounding area and make for a pleasant experience, especially without the sun to glare down on everyone, burning the skin of pedestrians as time marches on throughout this boring day.

"Are you okay," Lilly asked with concern. "You seem agitated. Did I say something wrong at some point today?"

"No," Hisao replied. He then shifted his attention away from Lilly and to the street light behind her which had just flashed from green and now back to red. He could not help but wonder at this point how long Lilly had been trying to wake him from his daydream if they completely missed their chance to cross the street. He was about to say something but Lilly spoke out first, effectively interrupting him before he had the chance to ask her how long they were standing here.

"Hisao, is it not time for us to cross the road?"

Only now did Hisao understand what Pacific wanted him to do. He lifted his head and glanced down the far end of the road to see a black car traveling quickly down it. He then looked back towards Lilly and released her arm which confused her greatly. "Yeah, it's time," he lied in a flat manner. "Why don't you go ahead? I have to tie my shoe but I'll catch up with you in a minute."

Lilly could almost feel something wrong with this scenario but she decided it would be best not to question it. While Hisao was acting strangely, she knew there was probably nothing darker at work here. For anyone else, this would have been safe to assume. She nodded her head and ignorantly walked towards the road. She unfolded her cane and pointed it at the ground as she stepped into the street gutter. Lilly carefully began maneuvering towards the other side of the road when oncoming traffic was closing in on her position. The last thing she would ever hear was the loud honk of a horn before a huge object slammed into her.

Hisao remained motionless with his hands at his side as he watched all of this happen. He silently idled in the background as he witnessed Lilly moving into the middle of the street and was instantly hit by the black car he saw not a second earlier. He lowered his head only in slight despair as screams erupted from all around him. "Now I know what this world truly is," he whispered to himself.

"The twilight of life. The moment in which one is not technically dead, however, it would almost be criminally to call them alive. A place of singular and linear thought processes which are dressed to contain more meaning by the cowards who conceive them than what they truly are worth. I exist in an eternal purgatory to serve as an appetizer to the never ending darkness which will one day engulf me from body to the deepest corners and complexities of my mind."

Hisao allowed the world around him as well as he himself to fade to black without a struggle.

* * *

Lilly Satou opened her eyes as she laid on the grass on a random cliff in the Antipodes Islands. She had not moved for a considerably long amount of time now. It would appear that she had given up all hope of ever making progress in this world. She honestly could not even figure out what she was trying to do at this point. She no longer had any clear goal which she could remember. There was no longer a determined bone in her body as she began to realize the true hopelessness of the situation at hand. Her weakness was beginning to surface and glimmer to the world. Behind the fictitious image of a woman attempting to hide her blindness by appearing to have an independent and strong mentality, there was nothing more than useless soul inside.

She sat up at long last and stared out to the freezing sea on the horizon. Lilly stared at the sea for the longest time until she heard the clicking of bones from behind. The sound grew louder and Lilly swiftly realized that another dead man was approaching her. She would not be incorrect in this assumption. She did not turn around for see saw no reason to do so.

"What have you learned," Pacific's familiar voice asked aloud in a cynical yet expecting manner. He shoved his hands in the pockets of his suit and waited for her to speak out. He already presumed there was nothing of interest to be said here. He had no faith that Lilly was nearly as intelligent as what was required to understand his ideology.

It took a good ten minutes before Lilly so much as opened her mouth to make a reply. The wind sped by stinging her skin as if she were locked in a freezer, but the temperature no longer fazed Lilly. It was painful, certainly, but she had grown use to the normally intolerable temperatures.

"I have learned what you taught me and nothing more," Lilly informed flatly. "Now, where is Hisao, and how do we get out of here?"

"Hisao is dead," Pacific announced casually which quickly snapped Lilly out of her careless attitude. "His heart was cut out of his body for the sake of scientific research. It was part of the contract he and you signed. Now, all we wait on is to collect your eyes. We are tired of waiting for that matter so if you would please follow me, we will have those eyes removed immediately."

"_Hisao is dead_," Lilly questioned and held her right hand out just before a tear dropped into the palm of said hand.

"Yes," Pacific replied with a detached voice. "He died after a few moments of bleeding. However, you will have a much more painful death I'm afraid."

Lilly could no longer focus on Pacific's words. Her vision clouded over as tears welled up in her eyes. She hid her face behind her hands and Pacific could tell she was sobbing in grief over the loss of her friend.

Pacific pushed up the tie around his neck before standing firmly against the subantarctic winds. "Lilly Satou," he questioned flatly. "Do you know who I am?"

"No," Lilly muttered in defeat.

This appeared to be the only thing she needed to admit. Pacific felt satisfied with her answer and backed away casually. He was about to say something else. Perhaps he probably should have, but he neglected to do so. Pacific then faded away in the background, leaving not a trace of himself behind after he left.

* * *

In a kitchen deep inside the dark little house owned by the butcher with the pig's head, a bloody mess had been created on the counter and inside the sink specifically. The butcher held a massive cleaver in his right hand and lifted up in the air above limbless and headless human torso which was positioned on his cutting board.

The butcher then abruptly forced the cleaver down onto the bloody mess on the table. Red fluid exploded from the corpse of the man he must have killed sometime earlier. The butcher repeated this brutal cutting process several times before he eventually settled down. The ribcage in this poor individual was now well revealed along with vital organs underneath.

The butcher threw his cleaver off to the side and reached into the open body with his left hand. Then, with his right hand, he picked up a nearby bowl which contained a wooden spoon, and placed it down on the counter in front of him. The butcher suddenly lifted up a pile of his victim's intestinal track and rose it high in the air, only then did the butcher realize something. They were still attached to the victim.

With annoyance filling his mind, the butcher retrieved his cleaver once more and in one smooth motion, he was able to slice the intestines in two, removing them from their prison in the man's mutilated corpse where they truly belonged. The butcher then dropped the intestines into the bowl and discarded the cleaver yet again. The butcher grabbed hold of the wooden spoon instead, and proceeded to stir the intestines in the bowl as if he were making some sort of demented little soup.

* * *

Hatred found himself sitting in what appeared to be the passenger's seat of a train. There was nothing else around him accept darkness. The only two things visible in this void were he and the very seat he rested on. It was similar to the void Rationalism guided Hisao through during the final hours of his life. Not a photon was glowing nor a sound could be heard. Then again, how could such a thing exist within a void of pure darkness. There was an absence of matter even on the smallest quantum levels. Nothing could take up space here other than Hatred and the seat nor was there any form of wind. It was almost as if Hatred was locked inside a tomb where time stands still.

Eventually, while the silence and emptiness was still firmly looming over the hateful skeleton never dissipated, the darkness was suddenly replaced by a mass of white light all around him. The once black void was now, for no explainable reason, a white void. Hatred was in no way fazed by such an event. He did not even seem to care or even notice for that matter. He remained in his seat with his boney hands in his lap. He stared down at his feet, the only thing he could truly see in this void. However, even the white void would not last forever.

The white void was quickly replaced as it literally faded away around the skeleton. As the void faded, it revealed the interior of an empty yet moving train, or well, it was practically empty. Other than Hatred, the only entities on board the train were not even alive. A large number of mannequins were spread out evenly across the train cart Hatred was riding in.

Some of the mannequins were reading newspapers or at least positioned in such a way to appear as such. Others were sitting in the seats, looking out the window to the grassy fields around them while other faceless statues were standing in the aisle, waiting for there miserable and motionless eternity in this odd purgatory to finally end, yet the end may never come for these hopeless souls.

Hatred looked up to one of the mannequins which was staring at him in a rather ominous manner. In reality, Hatred only chose the seat the mannequin was already facing as it stood in the aisle, but the skeleton could not help but feel deep annoyance with the wooden man. Was there any purpose for it to be watching him in such a manner?

As Hatred pondered this question more curiously than what the answer was probably worth, he could not help but shake his head bitterly. "You disgust me," he informed the mannequin. "Everyday I come out to this pointless town to speak with the only thinking mind here because she holds information which is useful to me. Useful to Pacific and our entire movement. Yet despise the very thought of doing so. You disgust me, you annoy me. You're pitiful world has become stale and stagnate because you could not truly handle the enlightenment we brought to your doorsteps. While it is good that the inferiors remain in such a stasis if not passing from this world completely, I feel nauseated by the sight of you."

* * *

Lilly walked through a massive field of sunflowers which reached all the way up to her waist and some even rose to her chest. A painful look was present in her eyes even if she was surrounded by peaceful and beautiful flowers, although, they provided no comfort for her when she could not see them in the first place. She waded through the endless sea of bright yellow and green plants with no clear goal in mind. There was officially nothing left for her to do but waste away in this unforgiving world. Whether it be from unbearable temperatures to being horribly murdered in the same way Hisao was.

She was feeling sick to her stomach. Her knees were also beginning to tire and shake which forced her pace to slow down. She dragged her cane along the ground, hoping to find something soon. She had idea she was actually nearing the vicinity of an old red barn off in the distance ahead of her. Lilly had only taken a break from her sobbing to try and figure out where exactly she was. She kept her functioning senses on the look out for any landmark or any sound that might indicate where she is at the moment.

It would take only about five minutes but Lilly then decided to stop moving entirely. There was no reason to. She saw no way out of the situation and her original dream of dragging Hisao out of this insane world with her was now completely crushed just as all of her other dreams were. She then collapsed to her knees among the sunflowers which now towered above her. For the longest time she would remain in that sitting position until she was interrupted by an unrecognizable whisper coming from all around her.

"You on the ground. What are you doing down there?"

The voice seemed to come from a moth fluttering around just above Lilly although the voice itself was actually disembodied and sounded off from all directions. This moth had bright gold wings with a body tinted a faded yellow to match. This strange moth gave off an odd aura that Lilly could easily sense. Regardless of the fact that the voice produced by this moth was by far the creepiest little whisper she might have ever heard in her life, she could almost feel a sense of benevolence above her which was far more than what she could say about anything else in the purgatory she was ensnared in for no clear reason at all.

"Who are you," Lilly questioned and looked up to the almost aquatic blue sky above.

"I'm looking at you," the moth informed, completely ignoring her actual question. "Why are you sitting there? You still have some more walking to do. Now hurry up, you need to get moving. Just ahead of you is the place you need to be at in this very instant. I'll guide you there if you need me to."

Lilly instinctively become nervous by the moth's hastiness to rush her off towards an unknown objective. "What are you talking about?"

The moth groaned loudly in agitation. "I'm talking about Epicurus. He wishes to speak with you and he sent me to guide you to his more humble vacation home. Now, get up," the moth ordered. "I don't have time to waste on you. Stop eating away the daylight and get a move on."

Lilly wanted to say something else just to try and gain some more information on her new little friend which was granted, much needed in such a time of despair. Unfortunately, the moth would not grant her such an opportunity. Instead, he fluttered off towards the barn, calling out to her as he left. "Keep going forward! You'll run into the little red barn and probably bloody your little nose in the process, but since the barn is already red, I suppose it won't matter," the moth snickered in almost sinister fashion.

Not wishing to waste more of the moth's time, Lilly held her cane out in front of herself and began moving through the field of flowers. She knocked most of the plants out of her way and walked carefully as to not step on anything unpleasant such as a snake or ant bed. She was too depressed to care about such things earlier. Only now that she was snapped back to reality did she realize just how dangerous this place might be in contrast to the others. Ironically, it does look to be a very peaceful field but Lilly was beginning to feel fearful just by walking through it. The only way she knew it was a sunflower farm was because she could both feel and smell them yet they were not in the least bit comforting to her.

* * *

As Lilly scampered off in the distance, she was completely unaware that she was being watched. The area itself was filled with enormous wind farming turbines which span slowly and in a rather tranquil fashion in contrast to the equally and almost ghostly silence of the fields around them. The nearest turbine to Lilly was located half a kilometer behind her. At the very top of the turbine stood a familiar skeleton, one who often goes by the alias, Ableism.

He watched Lilly with disgust. He simply hated seeing her breath the same air as her. "Why have they not killed her yet," he asked the heavens. "Why must she still be alive!? After all this time they finally sacrificed Hisao and began research on his useless heart. The worthless organ cannot even function and they believe it is good for scientific study. I wonder what they will do with her eyes after Rationalism plucks them out of her skull. Will he dip them dissect them to find the cure for blindness or will he dip them in a vat of acid for fun?"

Ableism decided it best to wipe the topic from his mind. It only irritated him to ponder such questions. He was wasting time on keeping a metaphorical eye on Lilly when there was so much more he could be doing right about now. He could now only sigh with annoyance anytime Rationalism brought up his research as had no faith in his colleague to actively find a cure for these defections in humanity. "Am I the only sane thinking person left in this world?"

* * *

Lilly would soon enter the range of the barn which the moth had guided her to or rather, told her to walk in the general direction of. She lowered her cane a little while ago, halfway expecting to know immediately when she entered the vicinity of the barn due to the possibility of there being a clearing around it or dirt road with no sunflowers but she had yet to come across anything of that nature.

She kept walking and eventually, without any warning she smacked straight into the metal wall of the barn and fell backwards, straight into a sitting position. Lilly grabbed her nose as a reaction to the pain and quickly felt a strange liquid filling her hand. She then realized her nose was bleeding. Lilly flinched as she grabbed her cane and stood back up. "Ow," she moaned before reaching out to feel the same wall she bumped into. Strangely enough, she could not help but realize that the moth had been right all along.

His words then echoed in her mind. "_Keep going forward! You'll run into the little red barn and probably bloody your little nose in the process, but since the barn is already red, I suppose it won't matter._" Only now does she see that the moth was not actually just teasing her in some dark manner, but warning her about an event which was to come. She then decided it would most definitely be a wise choice to actively pay attention to everything the moth says when she finally confronts him and the person he was speaking about earlier.

She felt her hand against the wall and proceeded to move along it until she felt an opening in the barn itself. Lilly then turned to her right and headed inside. The interior of the barn was very well lit since the roof was practically nonexistent. The only things present in the barn were a floor covered in hay, metal walls and timber framing. There was a wooden beam running across the barn just above Lilly where the moth was resting on top of, watching her closely.

"You made it at long last," the moth began which caused Lilly to jump. "I don't see Epicurus anywhere so he must be on his way. That gives me plenty of time to speak with you, does it not?"

"What do you need to speak with me about," asked Lilly as she held her nose tightly in order to stop the bleed.

The moth noticed this and giggled quietly. "I told you that you would bloody your nose but people never listen to me. Anyway. I would like to pick your brain if you don't mind. I know you might be going a little crazy at this point in time. I swear, everyone around me has gone mental but try to bear with me. I only have a few little questions for you, Lilly."


	9. Dumbwaiter

_Note: Well, one more chapter left before this story comes to an end. I think it is definitely time __Antipodes__ wraps up. Some of you may have wanted a full length story but I don't think it was necessary, and if I were to run with this idea for ten more chapters, I think it would get old real fast. This plot is definitely very slow and I commend those who were patient enough to stick with it for the sake of trying to figure out what this story is trying to say... other than the obvious ideology it promotes of course. I have to say, this chapter has been one of the toughest things I've had to write on this site. Of course, you'll know why when you see the scene I'm referring to._

_Anyway, enjoy._

* * *

**Dumbwaiter**

At the very end of a dark hallway lied a small elevator, much too small fit a person comfortably inside. This hallway had only one light overhead which flickered on and off again while the others had died out ages ago, or were destroyed in some way. There were no doors down this incredibly long hallway which was also strange. Despite the increasingly apparent fact that this hallway has not been occupied for years, it still seemed to be rather sterile and clean as if it belonged to a hospital.

The elevator at the end of the hall was attached to the wall and was positioned just above the average waist line of a person. There was only a single metal door protecting the mysterious contents inside. That is, if there was anything inside to begin with. Of course, this would soon be revealed as the metal hatch to the elevator slowly began sliding open all on its own.

As the door quite literally opened itself, another odd event unfolded on the floor just in front of the elevator. In the concrete, the face of a man, eyes and mouth gaping open began to take shape in the floor. The face rose out of the ground, revealing there was a body following closely behind. The man was noting more than a statue which kept its mouth open as it arose. It soon elevated up to its waist which allowed for any nearby onlookers to see the statue was actively pointing its right hand at the wall in front of it.

The statue soon was lifted up until its feet had finally surfaced. Without any warning, the statue seemed to slowly turn around, continuing to point at whatever was ahead of it. The statue came to a stop as its finger landed on the opening doors of the small elevator. The doors then fully opened, revealing the severed head of a similar cobblestone statue.

The insane statue suddenly started screaming in a deep tone of voice at the sight of the severed head. In response, its own head began rapidly spinning around for no clear reason. It continuously screamed as it must have had nothing better to do in response to such a scene. One can only imagine what this place truly is. The world Lilly was trapped in. It may never truly be revealed, but in cases such as this, one can easily see that this place relished in depravity. It was possible that Lilly had always been in this type of place, but was only just now realizing it. It is also very possible that Lilly has been forever ensnared in one of the lowest levels of Naraka.

* * *

Lilly kept her eyes focused in the direction she heard the voice of the moth speaking to her. The little insect remained posted on the wooden beam above her. It was intent on not moving a single inch as it continued speaking to her.

"The folks around here aren't really all there in the head," the moth stated in an unsettling tone of voice. "They constantly bicker over the smallest ideas and refuse to acknowledge that on a universal level, they all agree with one another. You know... you're not exactly all there in the head either. You're just as crazy as everyone else. Do you know that?"

Lilly looked to her feet after this was said. She then adopted an expression of extreme denial about the topic of her sanity. "I'm not crazy. I'm obviously the only sane thinking person here. Even Hisao is against me now."

"But we're all enlightened here," the moth replied in confusion. "You are the only one who thinks differently from us. You are the only one who does not understand or refuses to accept our ideals as truth. Therefore, by definition, your mind has been clouded in encephalopathy. The mania prevents you from acknowledging such truths. So, I must ask. Why are you even here? Where is here? And finally... what drove you so crazy?"

"I'm not crazy," Lilly repeated in a harsher tone. It was clear she was beginning to have her fill of this world. Her patience, while strong was not enough to protect her from the frustrating group of characters surrounding her.

"Yes you are."

"No I'm not!"

"Oh, but you are dear Satou. You are ever so crazy."

"_I am not_," screamed in a defensive manner. After she was finished shouting, the moth silently fluttered away, completely giving up on the argument. There was clearly no convincing her. She simply could not understand at this point.

Lilly waited for a few more quiet moments. She waited to see if the moth would say anything else. She waited for someone else to speak regardless of who it was, yet she would soon realize that she was now all alone, again. She dropped to her knees in defeat and shut her eyes out of frustration. Her arguing caused her to miss out on whatever information the moth was willing to give her. Once again, she was left without necessary knowledge. She had also just missed an opportunity to meet this stranger the moth kept calling Epicurus.

Lilly could not help but let out a sigh. She wanted to cry at this point but she was unable to produce tears, nor did she believe she had the time to do so. In fact, it would seem she has no time at all to react to much of anything. Her surroundings abruptly faded away for an unexplainable reason. Soon, she too would fade with the environment.

* * *

Pacific walked along South Bay, the same place Lilly first woke up in when she arrived to the demented island. The waves were crashing against the shoreline rather aggressively. While the sky had been grayed out for a long time, but only now had the clouds become much thicker. Lightning shined off in the far distance along the dark horizons. The echoes of thunder were also present.

The skeleton in the suit was surrounded by a flock of penguins. Pacific carried a wooden basket in his hands for some reason which was about to become very clear as he opened it up. The penguins came running and quickly surrounded him as they already knew what his mere presence meant for them. Pacific lifted the basket in the air before he turned it upside down, dumping the contents on the ground at his feet.

A large amount of dead fish quickly piled up on the ground and the awkward looking birds immediately began their feast. Pacific tilted his skull at the curious creatures who were ultimately unfazed by the storm brewing around them. He then looked up to the now extremely dark sky. The colors of the clouds changed rather swiftly. He was not expecting the storm to be here so soon. This meant he should probably find a way back to the underground caves as soon as possible. Just as he thought of such topics, he realized that it was beginning to mist on the island. He could feel light moisture falling down all around him.

"Well, I'll be off, then," Pacific informed aloud as he returned his empty gaze back down to the penguins happily eating at his feet. "All of you should seek shelter as well when you finish eating those fish. I collected as many as I could so you wouldn't go hungry during the storm. Well, good luck to you, little ones. I'll see you again shortly. _Too__d__aloo_."

With that said, Pacific resumed his journey towards the ocean which was only a few meters away from him at this point. He was careful not to step on any of the birds as he left and made his way to the shoreline. He then proceeded to walk straight down into the water, disappearing just as he always did after feeding the colony of penguins which constantly traveled along the coast.

* * *

Lilly found herself hurriedly walking through the freezing rain on the Antipodes. The winds had kicked up far worse than any other instance she had seen on the island up to this specific point in time. She could only go so fast while at the same time, making sure she was not about to step over a rocky edge which would end her life rather quickly. However, she new how absolutely important it was to get out of the horrid storm when conditions were already terrible on their own. Whether she was suffering from frostbiting temperatures or trying to avoid hypothermia, there always seemed to be something else waiting for her in this dreadful place.

She tapped her cane on the ground ahead of her in a rushed manner. Eventually, her swift and slightly careless movements would catch up with her and Lilly would find herself face down on the muddy ground. She groaned at the feeling of landing on the unforgiving, rocky surface of the volcanic island. Lilly slowly collected herself and rose up to her hands and knees. She was almost tempted to fall back down and die, but the icy rain was becoming too painful for her to bear.

"Why," she suddenly muttered to herself. "Why is it that this world's only apparent goal is to torture me. I know they say he's dead, but please bring Hisao to me. I don't care if he's changed or started listening to that insane man who calls himself Pacific. Just return _my_ Hisao to me. I can no longer understand this world, nor could I from the very beginning. I admit my defeat. I've tried to learn everything the people around me have attempted to convey to me, yet I still do not fully understand. I will never understand these people."

Lilly soon realized that she was only making things harder on herself by sitting out in the rain. She would catch a rather serious illness if she were to stay out here for much longer. In response, Lilly forced herself back onto her feet. She may have given up all hope at this point, but the thought of a slow, painful, and cold death was more than enough incentive to keep her going at least until she could find a safe haven out of the path of the showers from above.

"Hey," a familiar voice shouted out. Lilly immediately looked up and recognized this high pitched male voice to belong to the moth she met earlier.

"Get up already," the moth ordered. "I decided to come back."

"You did," Lilly stuttered in surprise.

"Yeah, sure," the moth replied dismissively. "I was flying by and I couldn't help but notice how pitiful you look lying there on the ground. So stay on your feet. You're embarrassing us all with your weakness. Now, come on. I've got something to show you. It's high time you meet Pacific and Epicurus."

Lilly gripped her cane in frustration. Her hands started shaking as a direct result. "I'm not weak," she exclaimed with a furious expression. "I don't need anyone taking pity on me. I can do anything you can do. So, just take me to Pacific and whoever the other man is you keep referring to."

After a split second of silence, in which Lilly automatically assumed the moth had abandoned her yet again, the insect started laughing uncontrollably at her pathetic argument. She really thought she was the same as the moth.

"If that's true," the moth stated with obvious sarcasm in his tone. "Then what color are my wings, little lady?"

Lilly was instantly taken aback by the question. "I didn't even know you had wings," she admitted truthfully.

"That's right, you didn't. If I hadn't have told you such a thing, you never would have guessed what I look like," the moth insisted. "Therefore, I guess we truly are different. So, don't ever compare yourself to someone who has access to all five senses. You will never be like us, nor do you deserve our privileges. Hisao told me all about it. You place yourself above everyone around you and attempt to be there roll model because subconsciously, you know just how inferior you are."

The moth suddenly sighed in defeat as he noticed the tears welling up in Lilly's eyes. She really did not care about the moth's insults. The fact that Hisao would say such a thing about her, however, was truly not what she was expecting. Now, the moth was beginning to feel only slightly guilty. He originally had plans to befriend Lilly rather than make her cry.

"Uh, never mind all of that," the moth dismissed. "The truth is, I am here to help you. I'm going to take you to Pacific. It is high time you learned what's happening to you. Wouldn't you agree with me?"

* * *

The butcher kept his eyes on the window outside. The storm outside his home had quickly manifested itself into a typhoon. He kept his pig eyes on the window for as long as he could stand to do so, watching the coastline just outside of his home. Soon he became bored with the extreme conditions as they were losing his interest. The butcher had something else he needed to do. He turned away from the window and looked towards the counter nearest to the sink. His famous, yet equally infamous meat cleaver was positioned on the cutting board which was in between the sink on the right side, and the oven to the right. The butcher was ready to cook his next meal, as that seemed to be his only concern, but he had nothing to cook.

He has yet to go out and find a victim today who might be a good source of protein for his family. There was obviously no chance he would be able to find something in this sort of whether. However, the pig man was a butcher, and the butcher went by a strict code. Never once should his family go hungry even for a night. There was no sense in it, his occupation was literally to prepare meats for the masses to consume.

The butcher took it more as an insult to himself as well as an embarrassment if his customers who came by today as they did everyday went home with a good meal while the storm went on, yet his own family had nothing. Suddenly, it became perfectly clear what the butcher was suppose to do now. He walked away from the window and towards a nearby counter just under his cutting board where every slab of meat was cut on a day to day basis.

The butcher then opened the counter and began rummaging through it, searching for two particular objects. Eventually, he manged to locate the first of these two items. He pulled out a pen and tossed it up onto the counter above his head. He then returned to his digging and soon enough, found a notepad.

After closing the cabinet, the butcher stood upright and loomed over the notepad and pen. The butcher quickly started writing out everything that he had planned. His notes would soon be finished and he leaned away from the counter as he carefully read over everything that he had previously written down. The note read:

_"__Dear wife,_

_ When suppertime cometh, collect my corpse which should already have drained out most of the blood. Set the stove to a proper temperature and boil a pot of water. Dismember my body and discard the fingers, toes, eyes, bones, and genitals as they will not be useful in cooking. Removal of the bones specifically will be a tedious task, however it is possible. I would recommend following some of my recipes from there. My intestines can be used to form sausages, my head should be used for headcheese, there are multiple recipes for the flesh of my limbs, and the same goes for the rest of my body. Enjoy the feast. I hope I taste well. Also, remember to boil any of my flesh before cooking it._

_ ~your husband."_

Now that the informative letter had been written, the butcher could finish his duty. He picked up the cleaver and took a few steps back, worried that the blood produced from what he was about to do. The butcher then held the cleaver up to his neck and lifted the chin of his pig-like head up in the air. The butcher carelessly lowered the cleaver against the currently unbroken skin of his neck before he suddenly forced it deeply into his throat, slicing the flesh clean open in the process.

Blood immediately spewed from the thin opening which was only just formed in the butcher's throat not but a split second ago. The butcher dropped the cleaver naturally as he no longer had the strength or even the know how to operate it. He then promptly dropped to his knees before falling to the ground, face first in a pool of his own blood no less.

* * *

Lilly had no idea where she was at this point. She could no longer feel the rain overhead, but she could most certainly feel it. Little did she know that she was not on the Antipodes. Once more, she was lost without the moth and trapped in another plane of existence, or at least it would seem to be that way even if it was not entirely true.

She was walking down the hall of an abandoned skyscraper. Papers were strode everywhere, office doors were left wide open, and there was even the bloodied corpse of an office worker nearest to the left hand wall was lying on the ground, as cold and dead as the butcher who killed himself just a few moments ago.

The hallway itself was average. The only light around Lilly was from the wall to her left which was constructed out of windows while the right wall was lined with the doorways which would lead to the smaller offices where one would ideally work.

Just outside of this building, anyone with functioning eyes could easily see the wasteland which acted as the horizon. What should be a beautiful cityscape along the skyline was nothing more than a destroyed maze of concrete and metal.

"Excuse me," asked Lilly in an almost cute tone of voice, even though this tone was only procured as a result of her being scared out of her mind. "Mr. Moth," she pondered aloud. "Where might you have gone. I am lost. I need your guidance. I am desperate for information. Just shout out so I know you're here at least. I beg of you."

Unfortunately, Lilly emotionless plea did not grant her the answers she wanted to hear, or even the ones she deserved to hear at this point. She let out a lonely sigh and continued moving on. She might as well keep walking, there was most certainly not a useful thing around her. Regardless of the irony, even she had enough foresight to realize that.

She would occasionally trip over a box or slip on a paper, but she would luckily not fall on her face as she did earlier. Lilly at least had to admit, this world was doing her a small favor. Her constant blindly navigating through what was beginning to feel like an obstacle course was greatly improving her skills when it came to walking without assistance.

Lilly stopped in her tracks as she heard someone rummaging around in the office next to her. She could hear the sound of a strange clicking, almost as if someone was loading a weapon. Strangely enough, that theory might not be too far fetched. Lilly turned her head in a more alert manner. "Mr. Moth," she questioned timidly. She was halfway expecting something else to pop out at her. One could not blame her for making such an assumption in this type of place but nothing did. In fact, Lilly received no answer at all even though she could literally hear someone messing around in the other room. She quickly mustered up the courage and headed in, allowing her cane to lead the way as usual. One could only wonder what would have happened to Lilly if Rationalism had not taken pity on her and given her the can.

Just when Lilly was about to enter the room did she feel a rush of cold air hit her skin. All around her, the world began to melt away. In its place, the walls of a cave appeared instead of the artificial hallway Lilly was previously in.

Suddenly, Lilly realized something. She must be in a new location. "Damn," she muttered uncharacteristically. "I just want to know what's going on," she pleaded with the heavens above, looking to the sky as if waiting for a response.

"The hell are you talking about," the moth's voice pierced the overarching silence which surprised Lilly greatly. "I already said I was taking you to see Pacific and hopefully Epicurus if he's there too. Now, hurry up. I don't have all day."

With confusion formulating in Lilly's mind, she decided to go ahead and comply with the moth's wishes. "Um... alright," Lilly replied and resumed her walking forward. She felt absolutely out of place. Since when did she return to the Antipodes. She could have just sworn she was somewhere else. Another thing she could not figure out was how she left the Antipodes in the first place, or perhaps a better question would be, when did she leave?

* * *

Rationalism walked through the main aisle in between the two square sections of seats which faced the stage in this underground theater. With bones clicking loudly, the skeleton approached the stage which only had two people on it. Ableism and Pacific were drinking tea as they stood at the center of the stage, chatting lightly about some of the more _fun_ and entertaining events which unfolded shortly before Hisao's arrival.

Ableism was the first to notice somebody else had entered the theater. He looked towards the audience to see Rationalism now standing quietly at the foot of the stage. "Oh. Hello Rationalism. How are we today?"

"I am quite fine," Rationalism informed cheerfully as Pacific shifted his attention towards the newcomer. "I have begun my research on Hisao's heart, and I must say I am making significant progress. I was unfortunately only able to do one experiment though. I dipped the heart in a bowl of sulfuric acid and it melted almost instantly, but I now know a lot about human flesh in contact to that specific chemical. I also came by to tell Pacific," he began and turned his skull towards the radical skeleton to his right. "That I acknowledge our difference in the same ideology. We should not bicker over the same agenda. That is why I have returned. I await Lilly to fulfill our agreement as well."

"Ah," Pacific announced and pointed to the entrance of the theater directly behind Pacific. "Speak of the blind devil," he informed before taking a sip of tea.

Rationalism turned around to see Lilly cautiously walking into the theater. Another thing Rationalism noticed was that golden moth who belonged to Epicurus as a pet was also fluttering around at the entrance.

"Pardon," the moth exclaimed. "But is Epicurus here? I also brought you Lilly Satou as you requested. Now, where is Epicurus?"

"He'll be around shortly," Pacific called back. "Lilly," he beckoned aloud which naturally caused Lilly to perk up with interest. "Bring your worthless self over here. I will tell you everything as long as you adhere to your side of the contract. Make your sacrifice where it is due, and it is due now, then I will tell you whatever you would like to know."

Lilly lifted a curiously eyebrow in return. While she began speaking with Pacific on this odd topic, Rationalism looked down to his suit and reached into the inside of his jacket. He then pulled out a plastic baggy and a pair of tweezers for some strange reason.

"What contract," she questioned. "Hisao made me sign that paper but I have no idea what's on it. You at least have to tell me what I need to do."

"Hisao already kept his word," Pacific dismissed. "Now, why don't you stop being such a coward and do your part!?"

Lilly simply could not take anymore of Pacific's insults. His mere presence evoked anger and frustration in Lilly's mind. She lost control of herself and quickly approached the stage where she last heard Pacific's voice. She was most assuredly going to chock him until he cooperated with her. Unfortunately, she had yet to realize that Rationalism was standing in between her and her target.

Just as she passed Rationalism by completely unknowingly, he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her over to him. "I apologize for this," Rationalism stated in a regrettable manner, but he was not sorry for the reason behind his upcoming action.

Incidentally, this startled Lilly as expected. Her eyes were wide open which made things all the more simplistic for Rationalism. He abruptly aimed the tweezers in his right hand at her left eye and forced the metal instrument deep into her skull. Lilly gasped in shock as Rationalism quite literally, ripped her eye out of its socket. Rationalism released her arm immediately after he removed the eye completely from her skull. In response, Lilly hit the ground and screamed as loudly as she possible could due to the ungodly pain.

Lilly tried to get up for some unknown reason but she quickly fell back down, thus, only succeeding in rolling over. While all of this happened, on stage, Ableism could not help but snicker at the sight while Pacific turned away from the gruesome sight as he did not want to make himself nauseous by staring at her while he was drinking tea. The moth on the other hand, who was still on the other side of the room, remained completely silent.

Rationalism slowly moved the glazed over blue eye which use to belong to Lilly until just now. He then held it over the opened baggy in his left hand and dropped it inside. Once this simple process was finished Rationalism looked down to Lilly before he leaned down and grabbed her by the arm yet again, with the baggy in that same hand as well, and forced her into a sitting position. Lilly was in too much pain to even realize what was happening. Her left eye, or, what use to be her left eye was closed shut but that did not stop blood from pouring down her cheek. Her right eye was closed tightly as well for obvious defensive reasons, however, this did not stop Rationalism from achieving his goal.

The skeleton forced her right eye open and once again, dug his pair of tweezers into the tissue which held her eye in place just underneath her eyelids. Lilly felt a short but extremely painful tug in her right eye before it too left its socket to be with the other eye in Rationalism's plastic baggy. Lilly screamed once again and threw herself back onto the ground, hoping she would not have to go through with anymore painful and abusive procedures. Thankfully, she would not.

Rationalism dropped the other eye in the bag and held them up to the light. Here they were, the mark of his beginning in experimentation with eyeballs. His dreams were beginning to come to the surface. He could feel he was so close to finding the cure for weakness. All it took was Lilly's eyes, and perhaps a few other pairs of eyes in case these were to be destroyed like Hisao's heart was, making Lilly's pain completely in vain.

"There," Pacific interjected which caused Rationalism to look up from his examination of Lilly's defective eyes. "You have what you require. I told you I would keep my part of the bargain. Now, you may do whatever you like with those eyes. However, I still have a beautiful show to conclude and the clock is ticking. For the audience grows impatient. I cannot keep them waiting. I must complete my play."

"I have faith that you will create a wondrous one," Rationalism reassured. He then returned his attention to Lilly. "I am so sorry, but this is for the greater good," he informed. "I would hope you come to realize that Hisao suffered a similar sacrifice. He lost his heart to revive the evolutionary process here on earth, which has come to a dead end. We are fortunate enough to live in a world where nihilism exists, and can enlighten us to do brilliant things. When you recover from the pain in your face. You will understand what we were trying to tell you all along. Now however, I'm afraid it is time for us to say goodbye. I will not see you again Lilly Satou. Good luck to you."

Lilly obviously could not understand him, for the last thing she was paying attention to were the words being spoken to her. She was no longer screaming, but occasionally moaning in pain with her eyelids closed tightly. It was absolutely an uncanny feeling when she had her eyelids closed, yet there was nothing for them to protect or moisturize. Her eye sockets were entirely devoid of what they were meant to hold inside them which also did not help Lilly at the moment. She literally lost her eyeballs, not only was she completely undesirable now which was the least of her worries to begin with, but... wait, why on earth is she distressed about it in the first place other than the initial pain she is caused? Perhaps there was no clear answer.

Rationalism now, could no longer bear the sight before him. He promptly stood up and turned away. He waved his left hand 'goodbye' which still held the containing Lilly's eyes. Pacific gave a light wave as well even if Rationalism could not see it as he continued to walk away, effectively leaving this theater of terror for now.


	10. Annual

_Note: Well, here is the final chapter of __Antipodes__. I hope everyone enjoyed this story for what it is. I look forward to hearing all the theories and I even gave the audience multiple areas to build their theories from hints to other scenes which don't seem like the make a lot of sense, but in a way, they all do. This was my first and last submission to the __Katawa Shoujo__ fandom as I already said before so again, I do hope you all found this story entertaining in some way._

* * *

**Annual**

It would take a good two hours for Lilly to recover from the horrific injuries she had just suffered and even then was she not fully recovered. She still felt pain in her head and even in her brain. It was only now that she was able to focus on her surroundings and begin questioned just what exactly happened to her.

In that short amount of time, Pacific and Ableism were able to finish off nearly three different cups of tea and ended two casual conversations. Neither of the two seemed taken aback at all by what Rationalism just did, seeing as how they already knew it was going to happen and Ableism halfway wanted to see it in the first place. They had actually pulled up two chairs from behind the stage and decided to take a seat about thirty minutes ago while Lilly continued rolling around on the floor. They only recently noticed that Lilly stopped her crying. At this point, she was actually trying to find her two missing eyeballs by patting the floor around her as if she were looking for a pair of lost contact lenses.

Eventually, Lilly knew she had to give up. There was simply no way of finding them now. They were not even in the theater anymore but Lilly apparently refused to believe such inevitable truths. She was still in slight denial that they were even missing. Perhaps they were still in her sockets but they were beginning to operate properly? Lilly felt a sense of hope as she never actually experienced any pain in her eyes like she did now. Then again, she never really considered having the pulled out of her skull. That would produce pain for anyone, regardless of condition.

Lilly would soon reach the realization that indeed, she had no eyes in her sockets. She finally forced herself to understand this. Only now that the useless external organs in her face were forced to leave her, could she hear a certain noise she had so far been unable to hear even if it quite possible, could have been surrounding her the entire time. Lilly looked up to the ceiling filled with glowing blue stalactites. The same stalactites she had no right to ever physically perceive. She listened to a sound which strongly resembled the heart monitors Lilly always heard beeping away while she watched over Hisao in the hospital. Only now did a question pop into her mind. Did that event, or rather, did any of those events ever even happen?

Lilly literally had to question everything at this point. By thinking this, she remembered that there were two people still hanging around in the room with her that could answer her questions. One of them, Pacific, even agreed to answering all of them. She let out a long sigh and turned her bloody face towards the stage where she last heard Pacific's voice sound off from. She took a deep breath before asking her first question.

"What am I?"

* * *

Tela was still holding himself up in that dark maze he met Lilly in. The only light in this maze came from the lamp on his desk. He was standing in front of the desk collecting a few papers as if he were in a hurry to go somewhere or see someone. Both of these were very true and anyone listening to what he was muttering under his breath could easily tell that this was the case.

"Oh Pacific," he groaned as he continued to collect some of the more important documents on his desk. "This play better be good. It should also justify everything I agreed to..."

Unfortunately, Tela would not have the privilege of finishing his thought. He heard footsteps and the clicking of bones down the nearest entrance from the maze into his office but he remained unfazed by such sounds. "Go away," he requested. "I have nothing to say to you Hatred, and if that is you Ableism than I equally have nothing to say to you. Even more so than Hatred, now get out of my sight."

The person behind Tela would not heed the request. Just as Tela heard what was obviously a skeleton walking up behind him come to a stop not but a meter away from him. Tela abruptly turned around in an aggressive fashion. "I told you to leave," he exclaimed but was suddenly interrupted by the loud blast of a shotgun. A wave of shrapnel hit him in the chest and forced him backwards, knocking over the table in the process.

Tela sat upright against the fallen table, bleeding out of his upper torso. The first thing he saw when he looked up from his injury was a pair of feet dressed in formal black pants and dress shoes. While holding the wound in his chest with his right hand, Tela slowly looked up to see who this person was. The man who shot him, surprisingly enough, was the red skeleton, commonly known as Epicurus.

The red skeleton held a shotgun in hand as expected since that was what Tela was shot to the ground with. The robed entity could barely muster his next sentence in pain. "W-wh-what are you d-doing, Epicurus?"

"All of you," Epicurus muttered as he lowered the barrel of his weapon down to Tela's head. "All of you have constructed a farce out of my world." With that, Epicurus promptly unloaded another round into Tela which caused his head to explode into brains, gore, and an eruption of blood.

Epicurus then lowered his weapon down to his side and looked down to his feet in the process. As he did this, the world around him, the only light which was now on the floor behind Tela's desk flickered out. Every object in the room also seemed to fade to black. In simple words, Epicurus was returning to the void.

Strangely enough, and even though Epicurus did not look up, the event did not go unnoticed; however he was not alone in this void. Pacific, standing in the same manner Epicurus was positioned in, abruptly faded into sight just to the red skeleton's right side.

"What do you mean," Pacific questioned in monotone. His voice almost sounded slightly satisfied with what was going on all around him. This only proved to make Epicurus even more angry than he already was. "Why do you insist on staking claim where it is not legitimate, Epicurus," Pacific continued, again, only angering the red skeleton more. "This is my world. Everything you see here, belongs to me. A figment of my own imagination. All of it. My world... and it will never belong to you for it is mine."

Epicurus could take no more of Pacific's rambling. As the white skeleton continued on about how this world belonged entirely to him, the void faded away. In its place, Epicurus could see he was now standing on the roof of a tall skyscraper looming over the rest of the city. "I wonder," Pacific continued as Epicurus clenched the handle of his weapon more firmly. "What will happen to you, when I'm gone? Will you go more crazy than you already have?"

"_Shut up_," Epicurus exclaimed and abruptly aimed his weapon at Pacific's empty visage and pulled the trigger. Nothing actually happened as a result. The weapon went off as it normally would but other than that, Pacific would not die. Instead, both he and the nighttime world around him would shatter like glass. This would effectively return Epicurus to the black void he had grown so fond of over the years.

* * *

Meanwhile, Lilly found herself sleeping soundly in a random hospital room. There was no explanation for this, as always, but there was something interesting about this scene. Hisao sat in a chair next to Lilly's bed with a light smile on his face. He kicked back in the seat, relaxed as his girlfriend was practically dying in the hospital bed. At this point, he was only hear because he was pressured into going. He really had no desire to see Lilly in such a state.

The heart monitor beeped away, giving Hisao an eerie reminder of the past. For once, he was not hooked up to one, and therefore, had the right to relish in someone else's misery for a change and indeed was he basking in every minute of it. No one could truly say why he enjoyed watching Lilly in the hospital, even he himself was out of theories as to why he found it so entertaining but none of the less, he was always around.

Another curious question would be, what is the roll this scene plays in Lilly's life. This very scene flashed in her head at this same instance, yet she had no recollection of it until now. She could not place why she was seeing herself in the hospital or even how she got there. Her body did not look damaged in the least. On the contrary, not a bruise was present on her flawless skin. It was possible that Pacific new why. After all, Pacific knows everything.

* * *

In the theatrical cave under the Antipodes, Lilly kept her gaze, if one could actually call it a gaze in the first place, locked directly in front of her where she could easily hear Pacific and occasionally Ableism speak to her.

"You are in my world," Pacific informed confidently. "You have lost yourself in my world. A world that exists only because I allow it to. It is a world which has constructed itself around my mind in order to prevent me from growing bored. You are nothing but a puppet, subconsciously controlled by me. _The environment around you is nothing more than a stage built by my own hands_," as Pacific stated the most recent line aloud, his voice became more energetic and charismatic. "I allow you to live by your own thought, in my world because you create the greatest form of entertainment. I have the privilege to watch you suffer as a result of your own weakness! I know what must be done. I could just blink you out of existence. I could have you killed, and my ideals would recommend such an act, but I simply can't! I want you to play on the stage for a little while longer for the sake of entertaining the audience around you! Dance for us, like the worthless you truly are. Your only niche is to waste everyone's time! You exist only to remind us how grateful we all should be that we can see the world with our own two eyes! Yet you refuse to understand this because your ego has clouded your cognitive thought processes."

Lilly lifted a cynical eyebrow at Pacific. "Why do I not think that's true? Why is it that I cannot imagine for one second, you being the ruler of this world?"

"Your ignorance is omnipresent throughout your entire being," Pacific retorted. "In my world, your presence is defined by me and only me. I am your god here. You are my creation. Yet you are a defective creation which is why I cannot keep myself from hating you."

"If you feel this way," Lilly questioned. "Then why would you create such an imperfect being? Entertainment? Regardless, I don't care anymore. Tell me what happened to Hisao? How did he meet you people in the first place?"

"Both you and he stepped into my world. You lost yourselves here without ever knowing. Hisao stumbled upon me and we hit it off from there."

Lilly abruptly grinned when she heard the almost contradictory statement. "_Wait a minute_," Lilly began cockily. "I thought you said that you created me and Hisao? Now, you're saying we wondered in here. So, let me ask you again... Is this really your world?"

Pacific threw his glass of tea on the floor in frustration which naturally resulted in it shattering into a million pieces, scattered around his feet. "Indeed," he exclaimed. "This is my world and nobody else's. Now, are there any other things you would like to know because I would really like to get the show back on the road again?"

"What show," asked Lilly.

"My show," Pacific insisted.

"Where at?"

"In my world?"

"What's in your world, again," Lilly asked, clearly toying with him now. This seemed to be an attempt to trick him into giving her the information she was looking for rather than what Pacific was willing to say in order to make himself look more prominent. Although, it was becoming more and more clear to Lilly that she would have to work rather hard at twisting conversations if she wanted the truth to be revealed.

* * *

Epicurus ran along a dark coastline while the typhoon waged on. The winds carried at a rapid 80 miles an hour. However, this did not faze Epicurus in the least. He ran along a sleek road, rain pouring down in a chaotic fashion as he held his weapon in arms aimed directly in front of him regardless of the fact that nobody was in front of him.

He soon came to a set of docks along the coast. There sitting at the edge of the dock adjacent to his current position sat Macabre. The woman Lilly spoke to when she came through this area on her hunt of enlightenment.

Only a few minutes later of Macabre starring down at the waves which were crashing against the coast all around her did she hear footsteps running up behind her. She turned, looking over her shoulders out of curiosity, but as always, her long dark hair covered her face and made it hard for her to see who was coming.

She then heard a loud blast and felt a barrage of shrapnel hit her in the chest. Macabre's gasped as she stood up from her seat on the bench and stumbled backwards. Epicurus shot her once more in the chest and she promptly flew over the edge of the dock, landing in the violent and rampaging ocean, never to be seen nor heard from again.

* * *

Rationalism was standing in a laboratory which he had built in order to combat defections in humanity. Hatred stopped by and was now watching him from a distance as he examined Lilly's newly acquired eyes. He leaned against another counter just behind Rationalism who was standing at the second table.

He watched Lilly's eyes carefully through a magnifying glass. Disturbingly enough, just next to him was a jar which contained what was left of the melted flesh which use to be Hisao's heart mixed in a vat of sulfuric acid.

"I must say," Rationalism began with extreme curiosity. "I have already seen the effects of concentrated sulfuric acid on a human," he continued with an index finger in the air. "But now I want to see what will result in exposing these eyes to white phosphorous. I'd imagine it would be very informative to witness."

Rationalism was interrupted in his odd thought as he heard the door to his laboratory open up at random. He and Hatred both turned to see Epicurus standing in the door with a loaded shotgun in his hands. The two skeletons naturally gave him puzzled stares.

"What can we do for you, Epicurus," asked Rationalism in a polite manner as he was not getting the hint as to what was going on. No sooner did he ask this did Epicurus randomly aim the weapon directly at him and proceeded to shoot him in the head.

Rationalism's skull exploded and what was left of the skeleton fell to the cold, sterile ground. Hatred jumped to attention but he did not have time to so much as fully process what had happened. All he knew was that a loud noise just sounded off before Epicurus turned and shot him just as dead as every other victim of his killing rampage was.

Epicurus then lowered his weapon, turned back around and ran straight out the door. There was still two more people he needed to kill for ruining what he had built.

* * *

Lilly stood on the stage in the underground theater, confronting Ableism and Pacific about her questions. She stared at them intently with her eyelids shut but her eyebrows were painfully posed in an angered manner.

"There is no good," Pacific explained calmly, "and there is no evil. Both of these things are meaningless labels weaklings like you give to people who you either agree with or zealously disagree with. However, that being said, as long as humanity allows the label of evil to exist, they can never find the harmony which is required to evolve. You are the reason we cannot evolve. Because weak and defective beings such as yourself exist, you thus hold back the evolutionary process. Kill yourself, Lilly. Allow us to evolve."

"What was on that contract Hisao made me sign," Lilly questioned with an extreme lack of interest into what Pacific was trying to tell her, which did not help her case as it literally proved Pacific's point that she was both closed minded and unenlightened.

Ableism snickered at the question. "You still haven't told her? You might as well. It might add to the show, you never know."

"What is he talking about," Lilly inquired harshly.

Pacific pridefully lifted his chin before he began explaining on top of what Ableism already hinted at. "The contract you signed stated that you and Hisao agree to sell your defective body parts to Rationalism and in exchange, you will be granted starring roles in my newest play."

Lilly lifted a curious eyebrow at this comment. "Your newest... _play_?"

Ableism chuckled to himself once again and leaned in towards Pacific. "Hey, don't you think the show has gone on long enough. I think people want a resolution and we shouldn't keep them waiting. Wouldn't you agree, Pacific?"

"You're absolutely right, Ableism," Pacific informed. He then abruptly turned to the empty rows of seats which marked where an audience should be seated. Pacific lifted both of his hands in the air. As soon as he did this, several spotlights which remained out of sight but were visibly posted on the ceiling of the cave flickered on. Immediately after they turned on, they shined their bright lights onto the seats which use to be empty, now, they were filled with skeletons who were watching the stage anxiously. Indeed, while the seats were initially devoid of an actual audience, the lights illuminated the caves and it was only then that the true audience could be seen.

"I giveth," Pacific shouted at the top of his metaphorical lungs. "Unto thee, a beautiful tragedy of the likes of Lilly Satou! For it is she, the ignorant protagonist of my wondrous work which has illustrated the struggle of our ideology, and the problem of the weak! Behold Lilly Satou, a religious zealot who mocks all of you who have all five senses! Now, we have reached the end of our final act! I would like to thank everyone for the rolls they played which made this work of art possible! However, it is clear that I am the only one who deserve any credit since I did this all myself."

Lilly was obviously confused by what was going on. She would soon realized what was happening when she heard the loud sound of a unified audience which immediately began clapping and cheering after Pacific concluded his speech. While both of the skeletons on stage bowed thankfully, Lilly stood upright with an astonished expression. "Don't tell me this was all just some stupid play," Lilly pleaded in monotone. "Don't tell me that... There's no way that's possible! After everything I've been through... There's no way this was all a fabrication."

"But it was, Lilly Satou," Pacific insisted as he stopped his cocky bowing and turned to face her. She too looked in his direction. "This is my world and if I want this to all be complied into a ten act play, then so be it."

Lilly gulped deeply in shock. What was she suppose to do now? It was all coming together for her now. She sighed in remembrance and looked to the cave ceiling. Lilly thought of a moment when she was still at the school with Hisao. It took place just a week before all of this mania was ignited around her.

* * *

In her dorm room, she woke up in the middle of a stormy night, although not nearly as chaotic as the typhoon Lilly was having to survive through at the moment. She was sleeping soundly as she always did. One thing that set this night apart from any other is that Hisao was sleeping next to her. In actuality, one could clearly see just by looking at him that he was not sleeping. He was visibly smiling with his eyes closed in a relaxed manner. It was the same creepy smile he had adopted after meeting Pacific, Ableism, Hatred, and Rationalism.

Lilly forced herself into a sitting position and threw the covers off of herself. She cautiously turned towards the table, careful of not waking Hisao up even though he was already technically awake. She then felt around until her hand rested upon a knob which was attached to the top shelf of the nightstand.

She pulled the drawer open slowly as to not produce any sort of obnoxious noise. Lilly shifted her hand inside the drawer and eventually located the time she was searching for. She then pulled out a plastic baggy. Inside this bag was a pile of what appeared to be mushrooms.

Lilly reached into the bag and pulled out a small handful of them before she placed the bag back into the drawer and began eating the mushrooms, one by one. Eventually, after she ate the last one out of her palm, Lilly already started feeling dizzy. She probably should not have eaten so many of them. As one could probably guess, they were most certainly not portobellos.

Shortly after she felt herself become disorientated did she suddenly fall forward, landing on the ground where she refused to get back up.

Hisao remained in his stagnant position on the bed. His grin also did not fade away. "What rubbish," Hisao muttered to himself as Lilly remained helpless on the ground. He could help her by taking her to a hospital but he could not be asked to go through that kind of trouble. It would be so much easier if he were to allow her to die here and sneak out of her room in the morning as if nothing ever happened.

"You literally just ate all of those mushrooms for the sheer thought that they might enable you to see my face for the first time," he questioned as he overheard Lilly muttering this plan to him a few minutes ago when she thought he was asleep. "And you honestly didn't expect to suffer an overdose? _Absolute rubbish_."

* * *

Lilly then shook the memory out of her head. She was beginning to get the idea of what was going on here and where she truly was. She turned back to face Pacific and Ableism. "I have just one more question before I leave this worthless place."

"Oh," Ableism inquired curiously. "And what might that be?"

"I'm talking to Pacific," Lilly informed sternly before returning her attention to the skeleton which held most of her concern. "Tell me who you are. You kept saying that I should already know who you are but I don't so tell me. Who the hell are you?"

Pacific almost giggled at Lilly when she asked the question he had been waiting to answer after all this time. "I'll give you one little hint, Lilly," Pacific explained in monotone. He then lifted an index finger as he spoke. "I tutored you in English."

That was all Pacific needed to say. Lilly knew exactly who Pacific was. The only person, other than Hisao, Lilly felt romantically inclined to, yet she never acted on such inclinations. She had nothing else she wanted to know. She could tell by the sound of his voice that Pacific was taking immense pleasure in saying this, but Lilly was not having fun at all. Strangely enough, Lilly always depicted her English tutor to be an evil character in the story which was her life after she moved away from her old school. It was as if she blamed him for her having been attracted to him.

Now, that so much time had past. Lilly forgot what he was actually like and created a visage in the bowls of her mind. A visage which matched Pacific's aura, personality, and mere existence exactly as Lilly imagined it.

"Very well," Lilly sighed solemnly. "I have nothing more to say to either of you. I'm going to find Hisao. Goodbye."

"You stupid bumpkin," Ableism snickered. "Haven't you figured it out yet? Hisao is dead. Rationalism cut out his heart and melted it in a vat of chemicals just to see what would happen. You still going to search for him."

Lilly leaped down from the stage and was about to walk out completely but she decided to stop in her tracks and turn back to face Ableism. "I already know how to find him. He may not like me right now, but I'll fix that when I see him again... and I _will_ see him again."

Ableism rolled his nonexistent eyes at Lilly as he watched her turn away and walk straight out of the theater. He wanted to call out to her. He wanted to call her a name or say some mocking joke as she left but he decided there was no point in doing so. He was getting exactly what he wanted. From what he could gather, he was pretty sure Lilly was on the verge of committing suicide if she is talking about 'finding Hisao.' That would mean his agenda of having her killed was finally working in his favor.

* * *

About an hour would pass after Lilly and the audience in the play left the theater completely, leaving Ableism and Pacific alone. The play was a smashing success. Pacific listened to some of the happy comments of the viewers as they left, complementing the message he was promoting in his work of art.

Indeed, the play was done. The curtains have been lifted and the theater, practically abandoned. The only thing that was left was for the creator to leave the cave as well. He was on the verge of doing so. He stepped out from behind the background curtains and onto the stage where Ableism was waiting for him. Pacific had a stack of papers in hand.

"Well, we should get going, Ableism," Pacific began as he kept his eyes on the papers in his arms. "There is still much to do..."

Before Pacific could finish his statement, he was interrupted by a loud gunshot and the scream of the moth which reminded everyone that the moth was present in the room, or at least use to be until Epicurus, his master, randomly walked into the theater and shot him.

Pacific dropped his papers and looked up while Ableism turned around defensively. They two immediately spotted Epicurus with a large weapon in hand. He casually approached the stage, visibly entertained by what he was about to do.

"What is the meaning of this," Pacific asked in surprise. His only answer came from a blast for Epicurus's shotgun as he fired it at Ableism, killing the skeleton instantaneously. Epicurus then cocked the shotgun and aimed it directly for Pacific.

The last standing skeleton on the stage seemed unmoved by the display. "I'm not afraid of you," Pacific informed flatly. "This is my world. You aren't real and even if you are, you cannot kill me because I am so much better than you. I left you in the dust long ago, for a reason! I'm better than you!"

This shouting ultimately led to Epicurus shooting Pacific at long last. Pacific felt the shrapnel hit him in the upper torso and skull. The skeleton promptly fell backwards and landed on the wooden ground below him where he did not get back up.

"You're finally dead," Epicurus thought. "Finally," he repeated before he cocked his shotgun one last time and aimed it directly at his own skull. Without so much as hesitating, Epicurus pulled the trigger, effectively ending his life right then and there.

* * *

In the end, Lilly was the last person left standing. By this time, when she made her way to the top of a cliff face on the surface of the Antipodes, the clouds were still looming over the area making the sky look almost as if it were midnight. The rain had stopped as well as the thunder which had grown silent and the lighting had also stopped flashing. The wind had also faded away. The Antipodes was dead quiet for once.

It was this silence which Lilly found to be unbearable. She hated it. She knew what had happened. Everyone was dead, even the people she hated were dead. She was now all alone in this insane world. No longer was this world insane of course, since its inhabitants had all died off over the course of this typhoon.

Lilly had never felt more alone than she did at this very moment. "I remain trapped here," Lilly told herself. "I remain trapped in a nightmare of a world where my morality has failed me. The only things that exist here are deductive reasoning and logic. This world is so empty, I cannot stand it! If only there was a light for me to follow. A heavenly spark. Something I could hold dear! This must all be a dream. I just have to wake up. I'll wake up from this nightmare in Hisao's arms. There's simply no way this place can be real."

With this in mind, Lilly braced herself as she stepped towards the edge of the cliff which would only lead her to the roaring oceans below which had most certainly not calmed down. In fact, as she neared the edge, the winds picked up along with the insane tides and the rain resumed. Lilly could not shake the feeling that she was dreaming. For one thing, if she truly felt pain when Rationalism yanked out her eyes, she would still be feeling it now, but she was not. Then again, it was not like it was impossible to feel physical pain in dreams. That was only a myth. This fact along with Lilly's own mind which was forcing her to go through with what she was about to do.

"I just have to shock myself awake," Lilly told herself, "and then he'll be there. Not only that, but if I leave this world, I won't have to feel these stinging temperatures. I won't have to do without anymore body parts or deal with the insanity that plagues me. Just take me hope you deep, freezing ocean. I will be ever grateful."

Lilly's final pleas were over at this point. She raised her head until she was facing the sky and allowed herself to lose balance. She then fell forward, straight into the ocean below. Whether or not she would actually wake up was unclear. However, she at least left behind the darkness of the Antipodes Islands. Knowing that they would not be torturing her anymore, was satisfying enough.

Everyone else allowed themselves to be taken by the madness of this world. They started out in a simple fashion. They wanted to promote a brutal and unforgiving ideology. What they received in return was madness and depravity on many different levels. While they were all dead now, most of them chose to relish in this insanity for as long as they were alive. To those lost souls who resolved horrific encephalopathy to be there ultimate destiny, one can only imagine what sort of ungodly visions and thoughts infected your minds.

Lilly Satou, Epicurus, and even Hisao Nakai on the other hand, preferred leaving the Antipodes over madness. It is these three who also effectively ended the spread of mental disease in their own creative ways. Hisao did none of this, but Lilly prevented it from reaching her own mind, and Epicurus killed off those who were already insane. To these few kind souls who decided to help the lost ones, may you rest in peace.

**FIN**

* * *

**Characters:**

Lilly Satou~ Lilly is the unfortunate protagonist of the story. She has blonde hair and blue eyes. She is even rather tall which gives her a very Aryan look to her. She suffers from blindness which only becomes a serious problem to her when she is dropped into the realm of the Antipodes. Lilly remains unenlightened by Pacific's ideology and as a direct result, also due partially to Hisao's intentionally messing with her, Lilly experiences a most brutal journey through the dreamy prison she has been locked inside.

_Ideology: Unknown_

_Status: Dead_

Hisao Nakai~ Hisao is one of the two main antagonists of the story. He joined up with Pacific after becoming enlightened by his ideals. Hisao seems to no longer have any regards for his girlfriend Lilly and often goes out of his way to make her adventure much more challenging than what is actually necessary, but a lot of these actions are a response to his own ideology rather than cruel sadism. Hisao hides away from Lilly underground until the very end of his life. He seems to have changed considerably as he willingly signs a contract on both his and Lilly's behalf which literally offers their defective organs to Rationalism for the purpose of experimentation.

_Ideology: Nihilism(Extreme)_

_Status: Dead_

Rationalism~ Rationalism is a skeleton with a rather flat and detached personality. He seems to feel some concern for Lilly, going so far as to demanding Hisao and Pacific go more easy on her when teaching her about the true philosophy. Rationalism is bent on solving the problem of defective human beings which is probably why he recruited Hisao to the movement. He does not seem to completely comprehend the ideals that he and Epicurus created as he is not as fanatical as some of the other followers. Rationalism is much more polite yet he holds his ideas very securely.

_Ideology: Nihilism_

_Status: Dead_

Pacific~ The most infamous of all the idealistic skeletons, Pacific is the primary antagonist of the story. He is not a polite person at all. Pacific is firm and is often considered a dominant personality. He despises those who do not understand his ideals and practically punishes Lilly because she takes so long to comprehend them. A curious individual, Pacific appears to know Lilly far better than one would originally think. It is possible that he is a symbol of someone from the past. Perhaps a person Lilly might have had a negative encounter with. This theory would correlate strongly when he says his little catch phrase, "Do you know who I am," he always refers to Lilly when he says this.

_Ideology: Nihilism(Extreme)_

_Status: Dead_

Hatred~ The skeleton commonly known as Hatred is aligned with Pacific and his nihilistic movement. Not much is known about him other than he is ironically very polite. However, there are rare instances when he grows angry or even violent. Hatred is also a very good friend of Rationalism.

_Ideology: Nihilism_

_Status: Dead_

Ableism~ Ableism is by far, the most hateful and fearless of all the ideological skeletons. He supports Pacific because he wants to uphold his idea of supremacy over disabled human beings. Ableism absolutely hates Lilly and even Hisao who zealously supports Pacific as well. In the end, Ableism could not care less about Pacific or his nihilistic and Darwinist views as long as he is assured that all disabled people will eventually be exterminated which is the one thing he actually does care about.

_Ideology: Nihilism(Extreme)_

_Status: Dead_

Tela~ Tela is not a skeleton. He is an entity specific to Lilly. His only niche seems to be explaining the new idealism to her and often times might be considered nothing more than dreamy character in her mind although he is able to interract with other outside forces which could possible disprove this theory.

_Ideology: Unknown_

_Status: Dead_

The Butcher~ Almost nothing is known about the butcher. He is a man with the head of a pig who only wishes to survive by butchering meat and selling some to customers while using whats left to feed his family. He even goes so far as to kill himself when he cannot properly feed them, and thus forces them to cannibalize his corpse.

_Ideology: Unknown_

_Status: Dead_

Macabre~ Macabre is an entity similar to Tela. She exists only to explain certain concepts of the overarching philosophy to Lilly and serves no other purpose. However, she is one of Epicurus's targets for some unclear reason just as Tela was.

_Ideology: Nihilism_

_Status: Dead_

Epicurus~ Epicurus is also known as the 'Red Skeleton.' He is the original creator of what he likes to call, "Nihilistic Darwinism." He seems to hate what Pacific has done to his ideology and this eventually leads him to kill off everyone who has strayed from the original set of ideals.

_Ideology: Nihilism_

_Status: Dead_

The Moth~ The moth is a servant of Epicurus. The insect is extremely smart and cleaver, but is also very loyal to Epicurus. The moth obeys only the words of his master which causes him to guide Lilly to the underground cave at the Antipodes.

_Ideology: Unknown_

_Status: Dead_


End file.
